Los Olvidados by Luis Buñuel (Mexico, 1950, 80 min.). An unrelenting depiction of the lives of abandoned children in Mexico’s City slums, this 1950s film stands on its own as a viable and searing indictment of society’s ills. Using a combination of professional and non-professional actors, the film focuses on the bond of power and duplicity between two young Mexican boys—Jaibo, a hardened murderer, and Pedro, an innocent drawn into a life of crime by the cruelty of his environment. The film opens with a montage of iconic city landmarks—the Manhattan skyline, Big Ben, and the Eiffel Tower—ending with Mexico City’s modern architecture, busy roadways, and pristine public parks, dissolving to several children playing in a crumbling building. Despite the iconic city images, representing money, power, and progress, poorest city residents are still left behind. Description adapted from description by Ronald Bowers. New print!