La joven

"The Young One" is a rare English-language enterprise for acclaimed director Luis Bunuel: a thoroughly perverse, unpleasant yet fascinating tale of corruption of innocence and racial prejudice. Bunuel, well-known as a provocateur, makes the black character (Bernie Hamilton, in a charismatic performance) the most positive one, and he takes advantage of Key Meersman's precocious, efortless eroticism (remember, this was made two years before Kubrick's "Lolita"). There is a great shot near the end of her playing hopscotch while wearing high heels which perfectly illustrates her duality - both a child and a woman. Terrific theme song, too. *** out of 4.

Young One, The (1960)

**** (out of 4)

An innocent black man (Bernie Hamilton) is accused of rape by a white woman so he runs off into the swamps of Louisiana. Once there he meets a young (11-13 year oldish) white girl (Key Meersman) and her racist guardian (Zachary Scott) who is also having sex with her. I've seen quite a few Luis Bunuel films now and earlier I said I wished he would do a normal film and tell a normal story without all the dreams and surreal aspects. Well, this is a film like that and I must say it's subject matter is still quite graphic and hard to watch even forty-six years after being released. I have a hard time imagining this thing got released in America due to its sexual and racist nature but apparently it did as the IMDb lists an American title for the film. It's also worth noting that this pre-dates To Kill a Mockingbird but this film here goes a lot further than that film even dreamed. The "N" word is constantly thrown around and unlike the blaxploitation films that would follow a decade later or the earlier Sidney Poitier films, that word has never had a more damaging saying than what's on display here. I'm not exactly sure what the director felt about race but every time that word is said it's used in such a graphic and evil way that you can't help but want to wash your ears out. Race is an issue throughout the film but thankfully Bunuel never lets his message get preachy. He lets the viewer see the hypocrisy and that's enough. The sexual aspect is also quite shocking since there are a couple love scenes between the older guardian and the younger girl. Bunuel also doesn't shy away from showing the girl taking a shower, showing shots of her legs and even a shot of her breasts. No nudity is used and in some ways this makes it seem all the more dirty because of the innocence lost. The performances are all remarkable and even in their most evil ways, the actors make you care for them. Scott steals the film as the racist redneck who's also having sex with the young girl. Just watch the actors eyes and you'll see him thinking, which is something a lot of actors don't do. The thinking of whether or not he should kill the black man and if it's right for him to be sleeping with this girl. The three actors are always looking at one another and you can see that they are thinking about their actions and what could follow. I was rather shocked to see this film get a * 1/2 in Leonard Maltin's movie guide but I guess this film would be rather hard to watch for most people. It doesn't shy away from its subject matter and Bunuel hits the viewer with punches from all sides. The film shows evil and bad people but he also shows the good in such people so it's rather refreshing to see a film that deals with race and isn't one sided towards any point of view.

To viewers in 1960 this mostly seemed a rather turgid and unappealing tale of a bigot's reform, compromised by its trashy atmosphere. The key to the film, I believe, is Bunuel's admiration for the writing of the Marquis de Sade. The Zachary Scott character has a whole host of unexamined prejudices, not merely a racial one-- and when that one tumbles, his mind is liberated in all directions. The fact that this includes being "freed" from conventional sexual morality is the Sadean aspect of it-- as in A Clockwork Orange (but no other film that I can think of besides these two), true freedom is by no means an entirely positive or benevolent thing.

Some of the above comments have mentioned pedophilia in connection with this film. An important distinction has to be made here to prevent corruption of language. What the Miller character (Zachary Scott) does is 'take advantage of an innocent' from his position of strength as an older man, but that is not the same thing as pedophilia at all. The girl in question is 13 years old and sexually mature (an age at which it was FULLY LEGAL to get married in some southern states, Jerry Lee Lewis anyone?). This would make sexual relations between her and a younger man closer to her age fully legal and between her and the older man STATUTORY RAPE only if the laws in that state said so. It is WRONG, in the sense that the girl is in a weak position and gets taken advantage of. But that could happen at any age and age interval per se can never be the only measure of who took advantage of who (look at all the women married to men 20 to 30 years their senior), although it is a pretty safe bet. In fact towards the end of the movie, one of the likely resolutions suggested by Miller to the priest as a way to redeem himself is "what would happen if I married her?" And when Miller lets Bernie Hamilton leave the island he is doing this to redeem himself in his own eyes and possibly marry the 13 year old girl later!

That said, the main character is not the black fugitive (Bernie Hamilton) but the young girl (Kay Meersman, a Liv Tyler lookalike in an amazing performance). She has lived on a remote island for most of her life and knows very little about the racist realities of the American South (or anything else.) She is confronted with it head on, when a black clarinet-player fugitive named Travers, unjustly accused of raping a white woman escapes to her island to hide from a lynch mob. She becomes friendly with him and likes him as a person and can't understand the irrational animosity Miller (her temporary 'protector' whom she hates and who sleeps with her against her will)has for this man.

All this creates a whole bunch of complex tensions that Bunuel deals with in the most masterful way possible. You really believe in all these characters, they are multi-dimensional and historically and psychologically valid. Bunuel has been called cynical and cruel. That may be true but nevertheless quite a few of his films remain consummate works of art because they live up to Pascal's idea of showing man's 'greatness within wretchedness.' This is one of them. 'The Young One' is a MUST SEE film, if there ever was one. It makes all other films about racism and the corruption of innocence look like amateur hour.

I have been looking for this film for some time, and it's everything I've waited for. For 1960, this film has some rather advanced themes. A black jazz musician named Traver winds up on an island used by a hunting resort. He has run away from a town after being accused of rape. The resort is kept by a middle-aged man named Miller and an older man who has just died leaving his granddaughter Evalyn (no older than 14). Traver finds the Miller's shack and takes some items. Miller wants to kill him, we assume for racial reasons. Miller is also in love with Evalyn, now in his care, and wants to make her a woman. This subplot is used through the eyes of two other characters who learn about Miller's relationship with Evalyn. You will notice quickly that one man, Jackson, wants to shoot and kill Traver for what others say he's done, and jokes with Miller about what he knows Miller's done. Statutory Rape is worse than rape, but to these people, black crimes are worse than white ones. Other reviewers seem not to pick up that Miller knows what he has done is wrong. He knows he is a worser man than Traver. After he finds out Traver left money for the stuff he stole, Miller no longer wants to kill him. Miller is not a racist man, any hatred for Traver that Miller has is spawned only from the fact that he's a stranger.

This film is the ultimate drifter film (under Tokyo Drifter)...like a Spaghetti Western or a Samaurai movie, it starts as the man drifts into this new environment and follows him till he leaves this environment. The film is book-ended with a great exterior scene with a compelling song playing about running away. Traver's name is short for Traveling Man, what better for a drifter?

As one of Bunuel's two English films, I wish Anchor Bay would pick this up and put it on DVD, or whoever distributed it if they still exist. Bunuel's attention to detail helps mix in some hidden undertones of prejudices. A clarinet called a 'Licorice Stick'. A priest offered a bed slept in by Traver asks how long Traver slept in it. "Only one night" the girl tells him. "It's okay, I'll just turn the mattress over." I'm frightened to even think what the character would have asked if Traver has stayed a week. Knowing Bunuel, the priest would probably say he'd just sleep on the floor after running to wash his hands.

Bunuel is no stranger to prejudices, see Exterminating Angel. As a window breaks, the host shrugs it off and says "probably a passing Jew". Generally he is so much harder on Catholics than anyone else, yet in this film, the priest is the only character that wasn't flawed. Obviously, I love this film, if you can find it, you must see it. The scenes between Traver and Miller have such style in their words, you'll like them both. Every exchange they have is so smooth, I can't believe that Bunuel didn't make more films in English.

RENT THIS FILM!!!!!!!