The all-amateur cast stars Alfonso Mejía as Pedro, a boy of perhaps 15. He is unloved by his mother, who wants him to leave home so she can focus her resources on her younger children. Pedro is a child of the streets, part of a small community that includes "Big Eyes" (Mário Ramírez), a 13-year-old (or so) boy abandoned by his father; Meche (Alma Delia Fuentes), a girl of about 14; and Jaibo, a criminal youth of perhaps 17. They associate with elderly and blind street musician Carmelo (Miguel Inclán) and permissive young adult Scarface (Efraín Arauz).
The only youth with a steady job is Julián (Javier Amézcua), a teenaged boy employed at a construction site. Alas, Jaibo is jealous and resentful of Julián, and murders and robs him, with Pedro as a shocked accomplice. This leads to increasing enmity between Jaibo and Pedro, interrupted only by a brief stint by Pedro at a youth farm where he attracts the interest of its director (Francisco Jambrina).
How others will see it. Los Olividados is of interest today primarily for its place in the long and fascinating output of Luis Buñuel. It seems that Buñuel made his best films unusually late in life, but all his films that I have seen are worth the effort to locate.
In the short run, the film was a flop, promptly pulled from cinemas in Mexico due to negative reactions from the public and government. Nonetheless, the movie dominated the Ariel Awards in Mexico, winning nearly a dozen awards including best picture, screenplay, story, director, and supporting actress (Estela Inda, who plays Pablo's burdened mother).
The initial failure and ultimate success in Mexico has political overtones. The P.R.I. saw it as a condemnation of their economic policies. But the covert political opposition, which apparently included the Ariel Awards, was pleased with the film. No doubt, both missed the true intent of Buñuel, a misanthrope at heart. For the director, Mexico was simply yet another place on Earth where people behave badly.
The film also won Best Director at the prestigious Cannes festival, and was nominated for Best Film by BAFTA. By now, the film has undoubtedly made considerable money for someone, through video sales and rentals alone.
Today at imdb.com, the film has a respectable 11K user votes and a high user rating. Nonetheless, there is a big gender and age gap. Men under 30 grade it 8.4, and women over 45 grade it just 3.5 out of 10. About two-thirds of the latter demographic give it a 1, the lowest possible grade, undoubtedly due to its thoroughly downbeat ending. Women generally see the children as individuals, while men instead tend to view them symbolically, as representatives in a parable about the misallocation of wealth. No children were harmed in the making of this film.
How I felt about it. One can force Hollywood terms on Los Olvidados, such as antagonist (Jaibo) and antihero (Pablo). There is even a puppy love romance between Meche and Big Eyes. But this film is too unpleasant for mainstream acceptance, even as a tragedy.
There are no real heroes, though the farm work camp director comes closest. Carmelo is at first sympathetic, but ultimately he is depicted as selfish, spiteful, and worst of all, a child molester. Likewise, Pedro's mother rejects her son and initiates a brief affair with street criminal Jaibo.
The movie seems to have symbolic meaning. Hope is depicted by Julián, who is on the verge of escaping the slums through gainful employment. Our sympathetic but troubled lead, Pedro, appears to be briefly on the path to a positive place in society, but Jaibo keeps interfering. Jaibo causes Pedro to lose his job with the blacksmith, and lose his place in the rural work camp, where he could learn a trade. Ultimately, Jaibo ends any hope for Pedro by killing him.