#1043: ROSI, Francesco: Christ Stopped At Eboli (1979)
ROSI, Francesco (Italy)
Then we flashback to 1935 and Levi's exile to Aliano (Gagliano in the book and film).
Christ Stopped At Eboli [1979]
Spine #1043
Blu-ray
Blu-ray
An elegy of exile and an epic immersion in the world of rural Italy during the regime of Benito Mussolini, Francesco Rosi's sublime adaptation of the memoirs of the painter, physician, and political activist Carlo Levi brings a monument of twentieth-century autobiography to the screen with quiet grace and solemn beauty. Banished to a desolate southern town for his anti-Fascist views, Levi (Gian Maria Volontè) discovers an Italy he never knew existed, a place where ancient folkways and superstitions still hold sway, and that gradually transforms his understanding of both himself and his country. Presented for the first time on home video in its original full-length, four-part version, Christ Stopped at Eboli ruminates profoundly on the political and philosophical rifts within Italian society — between North and South, tradition and modernity, Fascism and freedom — and the essential humanity that transcends all.
220 minutes
Color
Color
Monaural
in Italian
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2020
Director/Writers
Based on the book by Carlo Levi.
Screenplay by Francesco Rosi, Tonino Guerra, and Raffaele La Capria.
Rosi was 57 when he directed Christ Stopped at Eboli.
Other Rosi films in the Collection:
#228: Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
#355: Hands Over the City (1963)
#595: The Moment of Truth (1965)
The Film
Other Rosi films in the Collection:
#228: Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
#355: Hands Over the City (1963)
#595: The Moment of Truth (1965)
The Film
The title — at least in its English translation — is marvelously ambiguous:
Christ stopped at Eboli ... and had himself a cup of coffee?
Christ stopped at Eboli ... before moving on to Naples?
Of course, we are to understand that He (or to be precise His teachings) stopped dead in their tracks at Eboli because civilization went no further (in the untamed south) ...
**
This 220-minute version was originally produced for broadcast in four parts on RAI. The lyrical tone of the book is thus preserved, without any unnecessary hammering plot points ...
The film opens in 1945 (the year the book was published) in Levi's (Gian Maria Volont spacious studio where we see many of his paintings:
Rosi spends 18 delicious minutes of screen time on the journey from Eboli to Aliano — by bus and car until we are in deep, forbidding mountainous territory.
Although much of the film concerns itself with a more-or-less interior monologue of Levi's (Gian Maria Volontè) year, we are gently introduced to some of the characters he will live with for this Confino:
The mayor, Don Luigi Magalone (Paolo Bonacelli). A spineless Fascist bureaucrat, he is charged with — among other things — reading and censoring Levi's outgoing mail.
A temporary house-mate, the clarinet-playing Baron Nicola Rotunno — a despied tax collector (Alain Cuny).
His superstitious peasant maid, Giulia Venere (Irene Papas) and her adorable son, Carmelo (Carmelo Lauria).
His sister, who comes to Gagliano to visit him, Luisa (Lea Massari).
And a memorable character, the village (drunk) priest, Don Trajella (François Simon).
**
As is most Rosi films, the majority of the cast are nonprofessionals — here a veritable top-notch ensemble of real people; real peasants. Even the animals seem to hit their marks.
The Extras
The Booklet
Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by scholar Alexander Stille and a 1979 director’s statement by Rosi.
Commentary
None.
Interview
With translator and author Michael F. Moore.
Documentary
From 1978 on Italian political cinema, featuring director Rosi and actor Volontè.
Excerpt 1
From a 1974 documentary featuring Rosi and author Levi.
Excerpt 2
From Marco Spagnoli’s 2014 documentary Unico, in which Rosi discuses working with Volontè.
Rialto Pictures rerelease trailer
The Booklet
Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by scholar Alexander Stille and a 1979 director’s statement by Rosi.
"Francesco Rosi's film Christ Stopped at Eboli is based on Carlo Levi's novelistic memoir of the same name, which became an instant classic of Italian literature when it appeared at the end of World War II, in 1945. In it, Levi recounts the year between 1935 and 1936, during which he was sent by the Fascist government to live in the small southern Italian town of Aliano (called Gagliano in the book and the movie). At the time, Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime would send political dissidents into a kind of internal exile, to live in remote towns in southern Italy, where they would be required to sign in with the local police every day. Confino, as it was called, was often used by the regime to neutralize political opponents against whom it had little or no criminal evidence, by placing them in isolation, far from home, unable to travel, greatly restricted in their communications, and cut off from their family and political networks."
Commentary
None.
Interview
With translator and author Michael F. Moore.
Documentary
From 1978 on Italian political cinema, featuring director Rosi and actor Volontè.
Excerpt 1
From a 1974 documentary featuring Rosi and author Levi.
Excerpt 2
From Marco Spagnoli’s 2014 documentary Unico, in which Rosi discuses working with Volontè.
Rialto Pictures rerelease trailer
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