what this needs is... more elephant!
We began our Italian film series last night with Scipio Africanus. This is an epic (though at less than 90 minutes, a short epic) film, financed by the Mussolini regime, about the Roman vs. Carthaginian smackdown at the end of the Second Punic War, culminating with Scipio's invasion of Africa and the battle of Zama.
To the extent that it's a famous (or infamous) movie, it's because of its connection with il Duce: his son was the executive producer, and the film won the Mussolini Cup at the 1937 Venice Film Festival (purely on artistic merit, no doubt.) And no surprise; it's a blatant propaganda piece, designed to justify Italy's invasion of Ethiopia a year or so before. (It's also known for some pretty embarassing goofs-- you can see telephone poles in the background in a couple of battle scenes, and I'm told, but didn't notice myself, that there's a legionary wearing a wristwatch in another scene.)
It's not what you'd call a great movie. Okay, it's not what you'd call a good movie, either (though I've seen worse). But it definitely has its moments. For one thing, it unquestionably marks a high point in elephant-based cinema: the scene of Zama features about twenty elephants (including a baby elephant, which is about the most adorable widdle cutie pie I've ever seen) charging at the Romans, charging down a hill, charging up another hill, and generally being pretty damn cool. Like another shot, with two cavalry detachments plunging at each other, it's an amazing sight. When you watch it, you know you're watching real elephants doing real stuff, not some sissy CGI confection. And there are some moments that look like something out of a Sam Raimi movie: elephants getting spears in their eye, soldiers getting swords in their necks, all kinds of cool gore.
It's also clearly a movie that was made by people who knew their Roman historians: the paired speeches before the battle of Zama, delivered by Scipio and Hannibal, could have been lifted from Caesar (and for all I know, were lifted from Livy: this is why I will probably never make a historical epic movie.) And it's worth a look if you're interested in that sort of thing, or just interested in a movie that's become such a strange historical footnote.
(And this all reminds me: what's the deal with dictator/movie buffs? Kim Jong Il, of course, is a huge film fanatic. And there's that anecdote about Saadi Qaddafi-- Moammar's son-- approaching Harvey Weinstein about making a biopic about his dad. The response from Weinstein was evidently that he'd do it, if Libya would recognize Israel. There seems to be some sort of connection between the desire to be an absolute ruler who holds the lives of others in the palm of his hand, and the desire to make quality film entertainment-- which, if what I know about Hollywood is true, works both ways.)
To the extent that it's a famous (or infamous) movie, it's because of its connection with il Duce: his son was the executive producer, and the film won the Mussolini Cup at the 1937 Venice Film Festival (purely on artistic merit, no doubt.) And no surprise; it's a blatant propaganda piece, designed to justify Italy's invasion of Ethiopia a year or so before. (It's also known for some pretty embarassing goofs-- you can see telephone poles in the background in a couple of battle scenes, and I'm told, but didn't notice myself, that there's a legionary wearing a wristwatch in another scene.)
It's not what you'd call a great movie. Okay, it's not what you'd call a good movie, either (though I've seen worse). But it definitely has its moments. For one thing, it unquestionably marks a high point in elephant-based cinema: the scene of Zama features about twenty elephants (including a baby elephant, which is about the most adorable widdle cutie pie I've ever seen) charging at the Romans, charging down a hill, charging up another hill, and generally being pretty damn cool. Like another shot, with two cavalry detachments plunging at each other, it's an amazing sight. When you watch it, you know you're watching real elephants doing real stuff, not some sissy CGI confection. And there are some moments that look like something out of a Sam Raimi movie: elephants getting spears in their eye, soldiers getting swords in their necks, all kinds of cool gore.
It's also clearly a movie that was made by people who knew their Roman historians: the paired speeches before the battle of Zama, delivered by Scipio and Hannibal, could have been lifted from Caesar (and for all I know, were lifted from Livy: this is why I will probably never make a historical epic movie.) And it's worth a look if you're interested in that sort of thing, or just interested in a movie that's become such a strange historical footnote.
(And this all reminds me: what's the deal with dictator/movie buffs? Kim Jong Il, of course, is a huge film fanatic. And there's that anecdote about Saadi Qaddafi-- Moammar's son-- approaching Harvey Weinstein about making a biopic about his dad. The response from Weinstein was evidently that he'd do it, if Libya would recognize Israel. There seems to be some sort of connection between the desire to be an absolute ruler who holds the lives of others in the palm of his hand, and the desire to make quality film entertainment-- which, if what I know about Hollywood is true, works both ways.)
posted by Andrew | 5:29 PM
1 Comments:
how do you say "no elephants were harmed in the making of this film" in italian?
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