Death in the Garden isn’t one of Buñuel’s strongest films, but it has a lot to admire.

There were many things I appreciated about it, but I don’t think his commentary feels as sharp or cohesive as it does in some of his other work. Besides that, I was really drawn to the way the action is shot and to the film’s symbolism. The image of the snake covered in ants stayed with me. It makes me think of other images in his filmography, but also of his recurring metaphor for decay and hypocrisy.

I also loved the moment when the photographs seem to come to life, very dreamlike and in a way, sad. There is a lot of melancholy in these moments of them stuck in the jungle. In his autobiography, Buñuel starts the book with a beautiful reflection about his memories. These sequences made me think of that. The improbability of finding a plane with so many goods also breaks these lines of dream and reality, making the last act more interesting to watch.

Politically, the film made me question the meaning behind Lizzardi’s missionary work. What is the point of preaching the word of God if you turn around and exploit the very people you claim to save? Shark says something similar, that tribes hear the word of god “from the mouth of their exploiters.”

This contradiction feels central to Buñuel’s worldview, where religion and power are tangled. I also couldn’t help thinking about how this film connects to the ending of The Young One, where morality is similarly complicated.