The theme [of Los Olvidados], on the surface anyway, is the same that, since the appearance of Chemin de la vie, has served as a model for all films dealing with juvenile delinquency: misery makes an evil counselor, and redemption comes through love, trust, and hard work. The fundamental optimism of this theme is, first of all, a moral optimism, on the order of Rousseau's, which proposes an innate goodness in man and a paradise of innocence in childhood, laid waste before it is ripe by an adult world. But it is also a social optimism, which suggests that society can repair the evil it has done through reeducation. (p. 195)

With both children and adults, Buñuel avoids making judgments. If adults are more generally wicked, it is because they are more entrenched in misfortune. No doubt the most shocking aspect of this film is that it dares...