This is the second film of this director about Pasolini. I find the idea of making small biographies, instead of one big biography, about Pasolini an interesting one. And this film is concentrating on the period when Pasolini had to move, with his mother, from his small village in North Italy to Rome. It is than a shame that the film doesn't reveal much about the man. Yes he had a hard time, when he needed to move but that's it. And the film ends quite abruptly leaving the audience wonder why was this period so important in Pasolini's life. Pasolini is a figure full of contradiction and passion. He is a wonderful subject for a film, but this film miss all the passion. If you want to learn about Pasolini go and watch his films, read his writing. Pasolini deserve a cinematic biography that would give him the credit he so much deserves.
3 Reviews
More interested in form than content
debblyst28 September 2003
"Un Mondo d'Amore" deals with the true events which happened in 1949, when then 27-year-old schoolteacher and small-town poet Pier Paolo Pasolini was accused of having seduced three young boys at a party in Friuli (Northern Italy). The film deals with his "disgrace" (including his prohibition to ever again teach in a public school, his estrangement from his father, his leaving home with his mother to penniless life in Rome, his poetry being turned down again and again by publishers, his expelling from the Italian Communist Party, his difficulty and guilt in making his homosexual drive become real action, etc). Pasolini himself approached the episode in his writings describing how he acutely suffered and was filled with revolt and doubt, of which there is a surprisingly cold retelling in the film.
"Mondo..." has some great assets: the first sequence (the country ball where dozens of young boys dance in pairs) is very beautiful and moody; the art direction (including locations) is well crafted; the train sequence with the old lady is funny and VERY Italian; but especially striking is the fascinating job by actor Arturo Paglia in the title role, managing to create a character that is constantly true to Pasolini (at least in the way he described himself in his book "Amato Mio") yet alive on its own, not mimicry.
However, the film takes too many sideways, as if the main character - Pasolini himself - wasn't interesting enough. And there's this very bothering in-your-face "extra-care" for the "right" angle and the "right" chiaroscuro effect, producing a rather "arty", static look, ultimately devoid of real emotion. The final sequence is particularly disappointing and might be also misleading, perhaps giving an ambiguous (and dangerous) idea of Pasolini to those who are not familiar with his life story.
Anyway, Pasolini is an artist and a man who should always be remembered, not only for his multi-talented expression (cinema, poetry, fiction, articles, essays, etc), but also as a symbol of non-conformism and pristine clarity in his perception of reality -- please read "The Heretic's Last Words", a book comprising a series of interviews given by Pasolini to Jean-André Fieschi through the 60s, in which, for example, he already denounces the conformist ideals behind 1968 student riots, the anti- democratic praxis of the Italian Communist Party, and the perversion of what he brilliantly called "the new fascism of consumerism" of our times. See also his fascinating portrayal in the French TV documentary "Cinéma de Notre Temps: Pasolini l'Enragé" (1966). My vote: 6 out of 10.
"Mondo..." has some great assets: the first sequence (the country ball where dozens of young boys dance in pairs) is very beautiful and moody; the art direction (including locations) is well crafted; the train sequence with the old lady is funny and VERY Italian; but especially striking is the fascinating job by actor Arturo Paglia in the title role, managing to create a character that is constantly true to Pasolini (at least in the way he described himself in his book "Amato Mio") yet alive on its own, not mimicry.
However, the film takes too many sideways, as if the main character - Pasolini himself - wasn't interesting enough. And there's this very bothering in-your-face "extra-care" for the "right" angle and the "right" chiaroscuro effect, producing a rather "arty", static look, ultimately devoid of real emotion. The final sequence is particularly disappointing and might be also misleading, perhaps giving an ambiguous (and dangerous) idea of Pasolini to those who are not familiar with his life story.
Anyway, Pasolini is an artist and a man who should always be remembered, not only for his multi-talented expression (cinema, poetry, fiction, articles, essays, etc), but also as a symbol of non-conformism and pristine clarity in his perception of reality -- please read "The Heretic's Last Words", a book comprising a series of interviews given by Pasolini to Jean-André Fieschi through the 60s, in which, for example, he already denounces the conformist ideals behind 1968 student riots, the anti- democratic praxis of the Italian Communist Party, and the perversion of what he brilliantly called "the new fascism of consumerism" of our times. See also his fascinating portrayal in the French TV documentary "Cinéma de Notre Temps: Pasolini l'Enragé" (1966). My vote: 6 out of 10.
tears for what?
id-Andra14 February 2008
Oh, poor Pier Paolo...oh, those plebeians, so heavily underestimated him...all boys do such things...all so very delicate and poetic...
Oh my gosh, the adult convicting a sexual offence against immature boys!!! This adult is a teacher. Though the event that comes into the sight of the police is not related to school.
OK, very sorry for the guy, for such desires that are unfortunately given to him. But in all this poetic way it is being actually said (in the film) that, yes, he has an (wicked) attraction to the young boys, so what - fall in tears that he is not allowed to work in school?
Music - OK, the black-and-white picture of 1949 - OK, but the feeling/the mood/the idea - ?
Oh my gosh, the adult convicting a sexual offence against immature boys!!! This adult is a teacher. Though the event that comes into the sight of the police is not related to school.
OK, very sorry for the guy, for such desires that are unfortunately given to him. But in all this poetic way it is being actually said (in the film) that, yes, he has an (wicked) attraction to the young boys, so what - fall in tears that he is not allowed to work in school?
Music - OK, the black-and-white picture of 1949 - OK, but the feeling/the mood/the idea - ?
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