The Criminal Life of Archibaldo De LA Cruz

                                          By

                     Luis Bunuel

Desire can be a tricky thing, for some people it serves as a motivator for self-improvement.  For those individuals who can’t satisfy their desires, they may find themselves going a little crazy. Archibaldo Cruz’s desires are driving him crazy, but since his main desire is for murder that might be a good idea. Completed during Bunuel’s Mexican period, the film skewers machismo, infidelity, chastity, and of course the church. As with most of Bunuel’s Mexican film it takes a rather bizarre premise but keeps it easily accessible, by avoiding most of the narrative tricks of his later work.

The story of Archibaldo De La Cruz begins when Archie is just a boy; during the Mexican revolution Archie’s au pair is shot and killed. Since he was fantasizing about killing her by playing his mother’s music box, Archie thinks that he is responsible. Years later Archie comes in possession of the music box, and a desire to kill slowly forms in him. The music box’s innocuous song is distorted on the soundtrack, in order to represent the growing desire in Archie’s mind for murder. The recurring joke throughout the movie is that as soon as Archie is prepared to kill a woman, he is stopped, and some other force results in her death.

The film features many of Bunuel’s traditional obsessions; religious hypocrisy, unfulfilled desires, infidelity, and psychosis are all on prominent display. What struck me in watching this film is how drastically different it is from so much Mexican cinema which makes it to America today. All of the Mexicans in the film are aristocratic; consisting of old money, religious officials, and social climbers.  This is really a refreshing change, to see a Mexican film without drugs or gangs. The film also takes several pot-shots at loud, gullible, American tourists. The film is well worth checking out and serves as a nice companion piece to Bunuel’s earlier EL, which was the second feature on the version of Archibald Cruz I watched. Despite the film’s rather grim presence in manages to be really funny and even a little sweet in the end. If you enjoy offbeat comedies be sure to check it out.