This is only the second Bunuel film I have seen. The other was BELLE DU JOUR, and I didn't like it much either. At least, that film featured Catherine Deneuve, which would be a definite plus for any movie. This one has no one I ever heard of before, but I will admit that these presumably Mexican actors, especially the women, did a very good job at the thankless task asked of them by their surrealist, ultra left wing director.
It's as surreal as a Dali painting, and just as boring. Well, Dali is a little less boring, because you are wondering just what the hell he means. Bunuel leaves you in no doubt about his meaning. He hates anyone who isn't living in filthy squalor, and isn't as ignorant as your average scurrying beetle. Sure, a good many of the more economically advantaged people on the planet lead disgustingly meaningless lives, and are more-or-less sponging on the rest of us. Bunuel seems to think they are also leading lives of not-so-quiet desperation as well, and haven't sense enough to come in out of the rain, or at least out of a dining room where they haven't had too much fun. I admit there have been interesting stories told on themes like this, but Bunuel didn't do it for me in this film. It starts off interestingly enough, while we are wondering why all the servants of a large house are leaving, like rats scurrying off a sinking ship, just before the start of a big dinner party. Only the butler elects to stay. The interest quickly evaporates into boredom as we get repeated views of guests descending into lethargy when they find they can't bring themselves to leave the dining room, which gradually begins to resemble a pig sty.
Now, I, personally, have a reputation as leaning strongly to the left, so my lack of appreciation of Bunuel doesn't stem from opposition to his political orientation. The people he portrays in EL ANGEL EXTERMINADOR may be parasites, but they are not the worst "enemies of the people". Those enemies are folks like those portrayed in BARBARIANS AT THE GATE, about the notorious corporate takeover of RJR Nabisco. THE HUCKSTERS shows another sort of up-scale scoundrel at work, and there are many other films that display the villainy and lack of any moral integrity of upper class types in a manner far more interesting and meaningful than folks of the ilk of Bunuel and Berthold Brecht ever did. When it comes to denouncing powerful, wealthy scoundrels, I prefer concrete, straight-from-the shoulder expositions, not fanciful allegories like this one.
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