My Last Sigh Book Report On Luis Bunuel'S Autobiography

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Luis Bunuel My Last Sigh, an autobiography of Luis Bunuel, opens up many aspects of the film maker’s life. Referencing his own memory, with help from his siblings, the book is not only an autobiography but a true testimony of who Luis Bunuel really was. Often noted as a leader of the surrealist movement, with his creation of surrealist cinema, he is also a father to the art of cinema with his knowledge on the subject. Born in 1900, a time where just years ago cinema would start to get recognition with Edison’s Vitascope, Luis recounts times when he used to go to movie houses and watch cartoons, remembering the first of American films done by Max Linder and French director George Mêliés. At that time there was no sound, only moving pictures being projected with music being played behind the screen, where a narrator would “explain” the action to the audience (32). This autobiography is essential for anyone who wants to explore the meaning of some of his work. As he recalls times in his life where he grew up in Saragossa, many of his early memories are tied into his work later on in life. For example he tells of his early life into Catholicism. Many of the priests would view sex of any kind, whether in marriage or not, to be sin, since it implied mental lust (14). He has always felt that sexual acts and death are related, and incorporates his own image of the two in his first surrealist movie, Un Chien andalou, when a man caresses a woman’s bare breasts as his face slowly changes into a death mask (15). Such things he talks about is how well off his family was when he was younger. They were the fourth or fifth wealthiest family in his village of Calanda. The chapter Remembrances from the Middle Ages, defines a time in life where there was “respectful subordination of the peasants to the big landowners was deeply rooted in tradition, and seemed unshakable (8).” His

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