El bruto (1953)

A tough young man, who helps to kick poor people out of their houses, falls in love with a girl. She lives with her father in the building about to be demolished.

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Alcoriza (story), Luis Buñuel (story)

Stars:

Pedro Armendáriz, Katy Jurado, Rosita Arenas

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pedro Armendáriz	...	Pedro - El Bruto
Katy Jurado	...	Paloma
Rosita Arenas	...	Meche (as Rosa Arenas)
Andrés Soler	...	Andrés Cabrera
Beatriz Ramos	...	Doña Marta
Paco Martínez	...	Don Pepe
Roberto Meyer	...	Carmelo González
Gloria Mestre	...	María
Paz Villegas	...	Mamá de María
José Muñoz	...	Lencho Ruíz
Diana Ochoa	...	Esposa de Lencho
Ignacio Villalbazo	...	Vecino
Joaquín Roche	...	Notario
Guillermo Bravo Sosa	...	El Cojo - Tío de María (as G. Bravo Sosa)
Efraín Arauz	...	Vecino

Storyline

In the 50's, in a poor community in Mexico, the landlord Andrés Cabrera wants to evict his tenants to demolish the buildings and sell the land by a large amount. However, the leader of the community Carmelo González resists to his attempts. Andrés hires the strong slaughterhouse worker Pedro El Bruto to intimidate the dwellers, and his wife Pamola sexually harasses Pedro. Pedro goes to the community in the night and he hits the weak Carmelo that has a bleed and dies. When Pedro meets Carmelo's daughter Meche, he falls in love with her and she moves to his house. But the jealous Paloma does not want to give up on Pedro.

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Plot Keywords:

community | landlord | slaughterhouse | mexico | escape | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

O Bruto

Filming Locations:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Internacional Cinematográfica

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA High Fidelity)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

The Brute

Bruto, El (1952)

*** (out of 4)

A slumlord (Andres Soler) tries to evict some tenants from one of his rundown apartments but they refuse to go so he asks a strong but dumb Bruto (Pedro Armenariz) to scare them. Bruto goes to the man causing the most trouble not knowing that he is ill. After a strong punch the man dies and soon Bruto falls in love with a woman (Rosa Arenas) not realizing that it's the dead man's daughter. I was a little worried going into this film after reading some negative reviews but it turned out to be pretty good and didn't just focus or preach about how the poor are treated. As the film started I was thinking this was just going to be a morality tale but Bunuel takes the film into many different directions and really delivers a terrific character study for not only Bruto but the slumlord as well. I really enjoyed the way that Bunuel didn't just show both men as evil but showed that they both had good qualities below all the bad things that they do. The relationship with Paloma (Katy Jurado), the slumlord's much younger wife, gives us plenty of insight to the two men and especially with Bruto and his dumbness. I also loved the style that Bunuel brought to the film in terms of shadows, which is perfectly used during one scene where a group of men are chasing Bruto to kill him. What really keeps this film going are the terrific performances by the entire cast. Armenariz does a brilliant job at being the brute but his performance is made even better by the fact that he can pull off the character's weaker moments. Arenas is downright beautiful and very touching in her role and I really couldn't take my eyes off of Soler who really steals the film with his snake like qualities. This here certainly doesn't rank among the director's greatest works but I think it's still a very entertaining film with a lot going for it.