Mondo Cane
| Mondo Cane | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster
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| Directed by |
Gualtiero Jacopetti Paolo Cavara Franco Prosperi |
| Produced by | Gualtiero Jacopetti Angelo Rizzoli |
| Written by | Gualtiero Jacopetti Paolo Cavara |
| Narrated by | Stefano Sibaldi |
| Music by |
Riz Ortolani Nino Oliviero |
| Cinematography | Antonio Climati Benito Frattari |
| Edited by | Gualtiero Jacopetti |
| Distributed by | Cineriz |
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Release date
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Italy: March 30, 1962 United States: April 3, 1963 |
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Running time
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108 minutes |
| Language | Italian |
| Box office | $2,000,000 (US/ Canada) |
Mondo Cane (also known in the USA as Tales of the Bizarre: Rites, Rituals and Superstitions, 1962) is a documentary film written and directed by Italian filmmakers Paolo Cavara, Franco Prosperi and Gualtiero Jacopetti. The film consists of a series of travelogue vignettes that provide glimpses into cultural practices around the world with the intention to shock or surprise Western film audiences. These scenes are presented with little continuity, as they are intended as a kaleidoscopic display of shocking content rather than presenting a structured argument. Despite its claims of genuine documentation, certain scenes in the film are either staged or creatively manipulated to enhance this effect.
Mondo cane was an international box-office success and inspired an entire genre of mondo films in the form of exploitation documentaries, many of which also include the word "Mondo" in their title.
At the beginning, there is a scene with a dog pound. At the dog pound, a dog is presumably killed by other dogs through the camera's point of view. At Castellaneta, Italy, there is a statue dedicated to Rudolph Valentino. In the US, Rossano Brazzi has his shirt torn off by his fans. In New Guinea, there is manhunting. At the Riviera, bikini-clad girls woo US sailors. Back at New Guinea, pigs are slaughtered for a long-waited feast. In Pasadena, California, pet owners mourn their beloved at a pet cemetery. Meanwhile, at Taipei, Taiwan, dogs are butchered and skinned alive for their meat. In Italy, chicks are painted for Easter. In France, geese are force-fed for foie gras. In Sydney, Australia there are the Life Savers Girls. Nuclear contamination takes its toll of animals on Bikini Atoll. Fishermen at the Malaysian village of Raiputh get even with sharks by shoving toxic sea urchins down their throats. On the island of Tiberia, Italy, men in red robes guard the bones of their ancestors. On the Reeperbahn Strasse of Hamburg, Germans drink excessively and act incredibly stupidly. Tokyo has a massage parlor for men who were drunk. In Macao, the dead are covered in make-up for the funeral. In Singapore there is a hotel for the dying. Cars are smashed at a junkyard of Los Angeles and reduced to cubes. In Czechoslovakia, Yves Klein makes his paintings with the help of some female models and some musicians to express his favorite color, blue. In Honolulu, tourists are showered with leis and witness the Hula Dance. In Nepal, Gurkha soldiers perform a rite of passage by dressing up in women's clothing and bulls are beheaded for ritualistic purposes. In Portugal, there is the running of the bulls and bull fights where matadors challenge the bulls. At Garoka, New Guinea, there are indigenous tribes who go to church. The film concludes with a cargo cult at Port Moresby, New Guinea.
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Wikipedia