Christ Stopped at Eboli | |
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French poster for the film
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Directed by | Francesco Rosi |
Written by | Francesco Rosi Tonino Guerra Raffaele La Capria |
Starring | Gian Maria Volontè |
Music by | Piero Piccioni |
Cinematography | Pasqualino De Santis |
Edited by | Ruggero Mastroianni |
Release date
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Running time
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150 minutes |
Country | Italy France |
Language | Italian |
Christ Stopped at Eboli (Italian: Cristo si è fermato a Eboli) is a 1979 film adaptation of the book of the same name by Carlo Levi. It was directed by Francesco Rosi and stars Gian Maria Volontè as Carlo Levi, with Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny, Léa Massari, and Irene Papas.
The film won the Golden Prize at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival and was shown out of competition at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. The film received the first BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1983.
It was included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Schneider.
Carlo Levi was a painter and writer, but he also had a degree in medicine. Arrested in 1935 by Mussolini's regime for his anti-Fascist activities, he was sent to live in a remote town in southern Italy, in the region of Lucania which is known today as Basilicata. The landscape was beautiful, the peasantry poor and neglected. Since the local doctors were not interested in peasants and not trusted by them, he began to help them.