Diagonaldi
Very well executed
Colibel
Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Humaira Grant
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Tim Kidner
I've had a fairly uneasy and bumpy alliance with Luis Buhnel - many rate his work so highly that it is beyond reproach. I think that it can be agreed that whilst often very good, even excellent, his films are not always likable, or easy to watch.So, when this title, second-hand - that I'd not heard of - cropped up at my local Cash Converters, for 99p, I did snap it up, but watching it took some time - and one false start.Infamously anti-catholic, Buhnel again stirs up another hornet's nest, following a Mexican path on a theme that seems familiar with some Italian neo-realist directors; the relationship between the so-visible and commonplace face of "sin" - prostitutes - and the Church. In this case, it's of a rural priest, who like, Claude Raydu in Robert Bresson's 'Diary Of a Country Priest', tries to hold a cynical and generally spiteful local parish together, amongst the poverty and disease - at least spiritually.I know many who cite Bresson's 'Diary Of...' as one of their favourite and most profound films, ever. I admit that, not being of Faith myself, it doesn't resonate personally so highly. Though Nazarin is less about this particular priest's decline in personal health, it suffers the same fate with me. However, it's well made, well acted and I can see why it's a five star film for many.I don't think Buhnel would have been happy if everyone loved all his films - he seems to have been far too antagonistic for that and so my four stars is down more for personal taste than the film itself. The DVD transfer is good and the sound especially clear and well-toned.
Claudio Carvalho
In a poor and backward community in Mexico, the Catholic Priest Nazario (Francisco Rabal) follows the Christian principles and lives a humble life without possessions in an old hostel owned by Chanfa (Ofelia Guilmáin) and used by prostitutes. When the prostitute Andara (Rita Macedo) kills he coworker Camilla that had stolen her buttons of shells, she is wounded and seeks shelter with the priest. Meanwhile, the disillusioned dweller of the hostel Beatriz (Marga López) is lured by her boyfriend Pinto (Noé Murayama) and tries to commit suicide. However, Chanfa convinces her to return to her village. When the police discover that Andara is hidden in the room of Nazario, she flees and Nazario undresses his cassock and wanders in the poor countryside, helping the destitute and begging for food. When Nazario reaches a very poor village, he meets Beatriz that is living with Andara and asks him to help a child that is very ill. Nazario prays for the child and on the next morning she is healed. Andara and Beatriz believe he is a saint and become his followers. Along their journey, Nazario and Andara are arrested and the priest is humiliated and beaten by common people and by the church."Nazarin" is an ironic criticism to the hypocrisy of church and society by Luis Buñuel. Francisco Rabal has an awesome performance in the role of a priest that lives in accordance with the principle of the catholic apostolic roman church and is betrayed, humiliated and hated by the people that he helps and by the church that he serves. One of my favorite sequences is when Nazario is protected by a criminal in jail and the man concludes that Nazario is a good man, he is a murderer and they are in the same place. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Nazarin"
Michael_Elliott
Nazarin (1958) *** (out of 4) Luis Bunuel's "religious" film about a good hearted priest (Francisco Rabal) who does anything he can to help sinners but this might cause his fall from grace. I don't normally mind Bunuel's overbearing religious stances but this film got on my nerves. Technically speaking it's well made and has a good performance by Rabal but it goes too over the top with its speeches about good and evil. The priest is just showed way too good and everyone else is just showed way too bad. The good vs. bad aspect just seems too false for me to take the film too serious.
raskimono
Nazarin by the acclaimed surrealist Bunuel is ovbviously an attack on the Catholic Church and its loss of values. It is not a visual film and I think it would have played better on the stage. Bunuel takes us through this man, the nazarene that lives like Christ lived; a true follower i.e. in poverty, and without a care for property and what the next day bringeth. Some might call it a parallel to Christ's story but any follower and practitioner of the word, life should be like Christ in a way. But in essence Bunuel also inquires into the ogle of man's selfishness and need to sin and how goodness may save us all. It is a bold statement to make that may enliven, or recite to memory the movie for some. Truth, be told the Nazarene is also selfish because he gives without wanting in return or asking for it. His selfishness is his folly and the two women who follow him represent the sides of a coin;with the same face on each side. Lots of people represent sides of a coin in this movie, all with both faces the same. But the movie isn't exactly memorable once it ends and one could attack many of its ethical perforations and effusions within the movie's own doctrine. Not top-notch Bunuel but a "surreal" dream sequence that bunuel stages whithin where the message of the movie is framed and is worth noting for it shows you the capability of the director, Bunuel.