The discreet charm of the proletariat

Can La ilusión viaja en tranvía (1954, Luis Buñuel) be read as an allegory of Buñuel’s travels through the film industry? If the streetcar is Buñuel’s art cinema, then it can be seen as having to hijack the tracks so it can travel its route, because the authorities wouldn’t otherwise allow it to do so. And even though this movie is Buñuel lite, it still really works as a comedy.

     Back to the metaphor. Okay so, the first really big laughs for me are when the streetcar stops at the slaughterhouse and the huge crowd of poor passengers board. These are like Buñuel’s people. All of these Mexicans packed in this space, beggars, butchers, and the shit talking, and slabs of meat and pigs heads hanging from hooks along the aisle is Buñuel’s populist cinema, fondly affectionate towards them. The very next stop, when they pick up the two women in black with their religious icon is of course his criticism of Catholics—they’re full of fear, sorrow, and self pity.

     And later on when the streetcar picks up the kids, it’s Buñuel’s youthful imagination. And here I’ll segue into a perfect example of the kind of Mexican humor at the expense of others I’ve been trying to describe. Yeah there’s a kid calling another kid corpse because he’s skinny. Yeah there’s a kid calling another kid chocolate because he’s dark skinned. But what about the scene where the kids make fun of the boy named LORENZANA for being an orphan; then their teacher is having a conversation with CAIRELES and she mentions an orphan, but looks for the word and spontaneously uses Lorenzana as example of the word she was looking for! And Buñuel films a reaction shot of the little boy perplexed in recognition, pobresito.

     To close, there’s also a lot of talk in this movie about inflation—the scene where the two drunks discuss economics is brilliant. And there’s the masa gouging revolt. But when the streetcar happens upon the smuggling black market maíz, if you think about it, what does the label used to disguise the sacks say? “US fertilizer.” Is this Buñuel saying that the commercial film industry is monopolized by Hollywood shit mediocre product, and he’s taking back what belongs to the people? Okay, and then just gotta mention the Christmas pageant play is such a treat in this movie, especially the angel Lucifer as a Mexican drinking beer and firing a single action rifle at a dove, the Holy Spirit, in heaven. Don Luis with what imagination again delivers some comedy glory.