Essay Questions

Why is El Jaibo the leader of the group?

El Jaibo demands that the boys steal from crippled people and even kills Julian by tricking him into believing he's hurt. Jaibo is the leader of the group simply because he scares everyone else into believing he is the most dangerous, and if you cross him he will get vengeance. It is the fact that he has no care for consequences like the other kids do. He simply takes what he wants and intimidates everyone else into being on his side. Thus, this is important to note that he only keeps kids who are smaller than him around as he knows he can beat them.

What is Luis Buñuel's film have to do with the opening shot of various major cities?

The film opens with shots of New York City, London, Paris and then goes to Mexico City. The film relates to these cities in the sense that these cities have been built up and are praised for their spectacular building achievements, but while the cities grow in majesty, their people are being left to starve. Thus, the cities represent the external image of greatness, power and opportunity that is grabbed onto by people, but underneath the exterior lies a broken, rotten system where children are being abandoned by their parents and taking to the streets, becoming dangerous to themselves and others. The lower class person has become so poor that they cannot escape their misery and thus leave their children causing these young ones to accept the consequences that adults should be paying for them.

What is the meaning of Pedro's nightmare?

Pedro, after witnessing Jaibo kill Julian comes home to sleep, and has a nightmare. In it, his mother brings him meat as if to feed him for the first time, but Julian is seen under the bed and then Jaibo comes and steals the meat from him. The meaning of this nightmare is that Pedro desires to be loved and nourished by his mother who he believes has abandoned him, and when she finally gives him this nourishment in the form of a large piece of meat, Jaibo steals it from him. It represents how El Jaibo is a cancer to Pedro's soul which desires to be good and to have love in his life.