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Released by: Raro Video
Released on: 7/23/2011
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Giovanni Guareschi
Cast: Giorgio Bassani, Renato Guttuso, Gigi Artuso, Carlo Romano
Year: 1963
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The Movie:
The Italy of the early 1960s was a place of political turmoil - in fact, much of the world was, what with the 'threat' of communism hanging over much of the western world. Somewhere along the line, some producers decided to get Pier Paolo Pasolini, a filmmaker known for his leftist take on things and his provocative style, to take a bunch of news footage and edit it together with his own spin overtop in the form of some narration. If this weren't enough, they also hired known right wing pundit/cartoonist Giovannini Guareschi to do the same thing. The films were to be shown together under the title of The Anger, with equal time given to the left and the right of the political spectrum with the intent of answering, for the audience, the heavy weighing question of how war and the threat of war hangs over everyday life.
Pasolini's segment begins with footage of Soviet forces crushing and anti-communist coup in Hungary, something he shows a distaste for with his narrative, before showcasing a few different African countries striking for their independence, Queen Elizabeth II's coronation ceremony, the death of Marilyn Monroe, the impact of American style rock n roll in Italy, and then some rather unsettling footage of nuclear weapons tests. As Pasolini's piece plays out we see bourgeoisie contrasted with impoverished citizens of the same country, finalizing his segment with a fairly emotional and heartfelt statement on his beliefs of equality for all regardless of social status or political stature.
Not surprisingly, Guareschi's segment is pretty much the complete opposite, approaching the issues of African dependence with disdain rather than celebration, lamenting the loss of what were at one point European colonies and coming dangerously close to racist in his portrayal of certain events. His take on things is patriotic and dogmatic to an amazingly obscene extreme, taking shots at Kennedy's administration and at what he sees as American privilege becoming dominant in the world after the end of WWII. While this might seem in line with some of Pasolini's own views, Guareschi doesn't take issue out of any sort of moral reasoning but out of lamentation for Europe's passing of the torch in terms of world power and influence to a country that was settled by Europeans. At one point he shows us footage of Russian scientists attaching the disembodied head of one dog to the body of another - making his views of communists pretty damn clear. From there he makes some completely bizarre assumptions about the Nuremberg Trials being an act of vengeance towards against the Axis forces, of which Italy was affiliated.
Regardless of which direction your personal political leanings might sway you in, La Rabbia is pretty interesting stuff. Yes, it's dated, Guareschi's segment in particular, but it's got a great time capsule quality to it thanks to the use of the newsreel footage. It's also a rather fascinating exercise in editing and in audience manipulation, with both sides picking and choosing the clips they use very carefully to make completely sure that it furthers their own personal views on the subjects the movie covers. The end result is a film that's interesting more than it is entertaining but if you keep the respective agendas in mind as you watch it, you'll no doubt find it pretty fascinating and even bizarrely amusing in spots. The picture exists in the first place not so much to entertain as to provoke, and more than fifty years later, it still manages to do just that.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Raro's 1.33.1 fullscreen transfer, presenting the film in its intended aspect ratio, is very good with nice contrast levels bringing out a lot of detail in the black and white image. The picture is crisp, clean and clear with strong black levels, not showing any issues as far as print damage or authoring quirks to complain about outside of what was already inherent in the newsreel footage used to assemble most of this production. A bit of grain is present as it should be but the film is generally in fine shape and it's safe to say that the semi-rough look of the material here is intentional.
The Italian language Dolby Digital Mono mix, which comes with optional English subtitles, is also quite good. While there obviously isn't anything in the way of channel separation to discuss the levels here are well balanced and there are no problems with hiss or distortion. The subtitles are clean looking, easy to read and free of any typographical errors. Some clips have a bit of pop in the background and, like the video, are a bit rough around the edges, but it's nothing to get too worked up over as, once again, you definitely get the impression this was intentional on the part of the filmmakers.
Extras start off with an excellent seventy-one minute documentary on the bizarre history of this production entitled “La Rabbia I, La Rabbia II, La Rabbia III†which was made by filmmaker Tatti Sanguineti in 2008. Here we're treated to interviews with some of the people that Pasolini worked with on his side of the project and with Guareschi's son who gives some interesting insight into his father's side of the project. Even if you weren't all that taken with the feature itself, it's worth spending the time with this documentary as the story behind it is, in many ways, more interesting than the movie itself, particularly when it comes to distribution or more specifically the lack thereof.
Raro have also included Pasolini's short film, Le Mura di Sana'a, which was made as a statement and as an attempt to get UNESCO involved in preserving the history and heritage of Yeman's capitol city which, at the time, was at risk of being destroyed with the onslaught of capitalism borrowing through the country at the time. Four different theatrical trailers are included on the disc and there are menus and chapter stops provided as well. Inside the keep case is a nice booklet containing background on the film and the filmmakers - well worth reading, as they provide some more context for the feature.
The Final Word:
Strangely compelling and far more interesting than it probably sounds, La Rabbia is an interesting look back at a tumultuous time in political history and at the two sides that made up the Italian populace at the time. Raro's DVD is great, featuring some fantastic extras and offering up the movie in very good quality.
