Simon of the Desert

In Buñuel's re-imagining of the legend of St. Simeon Stylites, the 5th-century ascetic who passed 40 years atop a pillar in the Syrian desert, we first encounter the holy man as he's upgrading from his original modest pedestal to a 28-foot column six years, six weeks, and six days into his desert solitude. Towering against the sky, Simón heroically resists multiple temptations.