Martin Bradley
"El Bruto" is one of Luis Bunuel's least known films. It's a tawdry little melodrama which he made in Mexico in 1952. In America it would have been a B-Movie rotting away on the bottom half of a double-bill and yet it's quintessential mid-period Bunuel; dark, blackly funny and superbly played by Pedro Armendariz in the title role of a hired thug and Kathy Jurado as the bored, sexy spouse of his employer and from the moment she sets her eyes on him you can see exactly where this is going. It's certainly not as black as "Los Olvidados" but it takes a typically Bunuelian view of humanity, (in other words, a dim one), and there are no characters you can empathize with, except perhaps the daughter of the man Armendariz kills, maybe without meaning to, in an overextended show of force. It may not be a masterpiece but it is very powerful and a worthy addition to the Bunuel canon.
Claudio Carvalho
In the 50's, in a poor community in Mexico, the landlord Andrés Cabrera (Andrés Soler) wants to evict his tenants to demolish the buildings and sell the land by a large amount. However, the leader of the community Carmelo González (Roberto Meyer) resists to his attempts. Andrés hires the strong slaughterhouse worker Pedro El Bruto (Pedro Armendáriz) to intimidate the dwellers, and his wife Pamola (Katy Jurado) sexually harasses Pedro. Pedro goes to the community in the night and he hits the weak Carmelo that has a bleed and dies. When Pedro meets Carmelo's daughter Meche (Rosa Arenas), he falls in love with her and she moves to his house. But the jealous Paloma does not want to give up on Pedro. "El Bruto" is a melodramatic film by Luis Buñuel with the background of a fight of classes between an abusive and powerful landlord and his poor tenants. In this film, Buñuel does not use his "trademark" – the surrealism – and the story is very simple but engaging. The screenplay is very well written and the direction and performances are top-notch. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Bruto" ("The Brute")
Michael_Elliott
Bruto, El (1952) *** (out of 4) A slumlord (Andres Soler) tries to evict some tenants from one of his rundown apartments but they refuse to go so he asks a strong but dumb Bruto (Pedro Armenariz) to scare them. Bruto goes to the man causing the most trouble not knowing that he is ill. After a strong punch the man dies and soon Bruto falls in love with a woman (Rosa Arenas) not realizing that it's the dead man's daughter. I was a little worried going into this film after reading some negative reviews but it turned out to be pretty good and didn't just focus or preach about how the poor are treated. As the film started I was thinking this was just going to be a morality tale but Bunuel takes the film into many different directions and really delivers a terrific character study for not only Bruto but the slumlord as well. I really enjoyed the way that Bunuel didn't just show both men as evil but showed that they both had good qualities below all the bad things that they do. The relationship with Paloma (Katy Jurado), the slumlord's much younger wife, gives us plenty of insight to the two men and especially with Bruto and his dumbness. I also loved the style that Bunuel brought to the film in terms of shadows, which is perfectly used during one scene where a group of men are chasing Bruto to kill him. What really keeps this film going are the terrific performances by the entire cast. Armenariz does a brilliant job at being the brute but his performance is made even better by the fact that he can pull off the character's weaker moments. Arenas is downright beautiful and very touching in her role and I really couldn't take my eyes off of Soler who really steals the film with his snake like qualities. This here certainly doesn't rank among the director's greatest works but I think it's still a very entertaining film with a lot going for it.
kyle_furr
This was the first film I've seen of Luis Bunuel and this movie stars Pedro Armendariz as a strong guy with a lot of muscle but not a lot of brains. He his hired by a landlord to do anything to get the tenants to move out and he winds up killing an old man who was their leader. Katy Jurado is the landlord's wife and they have an affair. Pedro is chased by some of the men with weapons and hides out in the apartment of the girl who's father he killed but she doesn't know that. There isn't much else to the plot but there are several murders at the end but you can find out for yourself who is murdered. Pedro has worked with John Ford before and Katy Jurado was in High Noon and One Eyed Jacks.
AD
