Last week’s film,Death in the Garden, contained themes of greed, survival and how that changes people, rebellion, and the issues between order/chaos. The story revolves around a group of people who are forced into the jungle after a rebellion in the small mining town which forced them to flee. At first, the film seems very political given its initial themes of rebellion and exploitation, but it ends up being more about human nature and how people act when they are no longer in a civilization.

One of the main aspects the film highlights are the issues of colonialism and capitalism. Foreign powers control the mining town, and their treatment of the local people is unfair from what we see in the film. The establishment of this dynamic connects to the idea of transnationalism in that the story shows how people from different nations and backgrounds are brought together under conditions of survival. This is especially effective because of the effects of global systems which in this case, is mining and trade. The characters are representative of different aspects of society which include wealth, poverty, religion and most importantly, power. Their interactions with each other show how people from different worlds, though they are considered different, end up connected by this idea of survival. 

This was also one of Buñuel’s first color films, and his choice to include it directly convey the changes between the very different environments. The bright greens and reds in the jungle scenes make the setting feel exotic considering the colors of the mining town. It gives a visual sense of new territory but also implies the possible dangerous that may come from this environment. This is a contrast from the mining town which is mostly dull and seemingly lifeless/depressing. This film is seemingly a complicated one as it mixes the issues of politics, religion, and survival, while also showing how human behavior changes across different environments and cultures.