Directed by Salvador Simo and based on a graphic novel by Fermin Solis, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles relates the true story of how filmmaker Luis Bunuel (voiced by Jorge Uson) shot his 1933 documentary Land Without Bread in the Las Hurdes region of Spain.
Using money that his good friend, sculptor Ramon Acin (Fernando Ramos), won on a lottery ticket, Bunuel hires a crew, buys a new car to transport the equipment, and heads to the mountainous, rustic Las Hurdes to make what he hopes will be a realistic film about the locals and their way of life.
But Bunuel’s domineering personality, as well as his penchant for stirring up drama, soon has everyone wondering if the movie will ever be completed.
Along with being a very unique biopic (there are flashbacks to Bunuel’s childhood) and a snapshot of Spain just prior to the outbreak of civil war, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a famous filmmaker, whose brilliance occasionally played second fiddle to his enormous ego (though shooting a documentary, Bunuel had no problem staging scenes to get what he wanted, at one point going so far as to force a goat off the side of a cliff and filming the animal after it plummeted to its death).
Unflinching in its depiction of its main subject’s strengths as well as his weaknesses, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles is an animated movie that cinephiles will absolutely love!
Rating: 9 out of 10