Las Hurdes, is a work of art whose very production is a point of rebuttal towards the nuances of what makes a documentary, even very much a comment of film production – and how much of film’s artistry comes together to create an image or destroy it, how behind the scenes it takes so much sacrifice from everyone in crew to create one singular person’s vision, and finally it’s a question of ethics in art – how much can we spend, sacrifice, kill, to create a piece of work to say something, anything for those who don’t have a voice. The project and its companion film “Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles” work as a cause and effect, we see these striking scenes of poverty, death, failure of leadership while people who don’t have anything still push to survive – but alongside this, we see a ruthless approach to filmmaking, we see an opportunity to help people by creating ‘mock’ scenarios that could happen in these areas, we view the creation of some of the most harrowing parts of the documentary through the deaths of innocent animals that fund and feed the community Buñuel has invaded with his camera. I would say this film is Buñuel at his most anarchist – the admittance of failure of government, the hope for mutual aid from the people of Spain, and directness through filmmaking to place people directly in the line where aid is needed.