Banned in Spain because of its "negativism," this portrait of the mountainous region of Las Hurdes captures a thoroughly inhospitable landscape and a people who long ago abandoned all hope. Reworking the traditional documentary to make this "essay in human geography," Buñuel deploys a highly objective, matter-of-fact commentary that serves only to heighten the devastating imagery of human misery and futility.

Buñuel’s final Mexican production, Simon of the Desert is a darkly humorous parable about the life of an obscure saint who achieves new heights in his asceticism by perching in the desert atop a tall pillar. Simon’s faith prevails in the face of assaults and temptations, and he begins to perform miracles for his dubious new disciples: he restores the severed hands of a thief, who promptly uses the miraculously returned appendages to slap his own daughter. A final miracle of sorts is performed by the Devil, who liberates the ascetic to that hell on earth known as New York City.