Nothing Is Sacred PRIVATION AND PIETY IN SIMON OF THE DESERT
Simon of the Desert is an appropriate text for senior secondary students, and may relate to learning outcomes in History, Media Arts, Philosophy and Spanish. It is recommended that teachers watch the film beforehand to gauge its appropriateness for use as a classroom resource. Schools are also advised that Simon of the Desert contains brief nudity and mild coarse language. The film has a running time of forty-three minutes, and is in Spanish. It is available on DVD with English subtitles internationally through The Criterion Collection.
A very simple but cryptic film, (Luis Buñuel, 1965) has a plot that is both narratively straightforward and conceptually complex. Loosely based on hagiographical texts, it tells the story of Saint Simeon Stylites (in Buñuel’s film, named Simón and played by Claudio Brook), a fifth-century ascetic who lived on top of a pillar for almost four decades seeking spiritual solace. This premise is surrealist by nature; as academic Marc Ripley writes, Buñuel and his contemporaries in Madrid, including the surrealist poet Federico García Lorca, were fascinated by the improbability and comedic nature of Simeon’s feat. The pillar evokes classic Western civilisations – at least in the popular imaginary – while the landscape below Simón’s precarious home is a wasteland, a desert similar to the ones described in the Bible and later shown in biblical films like (Martin Scorsese, 1988), a work with which shares deep stylistic and symbolic connections. In tune with Buñuel’s body of work, which oftentimes escapes genre conventions, the film is a comedy that nevertheless deals with complex themes. The director presents us with an array of improbable appearances over the course of a series of vignettes in which a sombre, classic look, reminiscent of the early days of cinema. Indeed, the director’s focus on facial expressions is comparable to one particular gem from the silent era: (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928), another masterpiece of hagiographical film in which the nature of fanaticism is questioned.
