La Rabbia

The first part, edited and made by Pier Pasolini, gives off, as the director himself acknowledges at the beginning, a considerably chaotic impression, and indeed getting to the essence of the documentary is truly a tough nut to crack. Furthermore, his testimony is strongly influenced by a radically leftist perspective on the world and, in particular, his assessment of the Soviet Union, and the "liberation" of Soviet workers unintentionally seems ridiculous today. With even minimal critical source selection, his testimony would necessarily be different. The second part by Giovanni Guareschi is politically tendentious from the opposite positions, but as a documentary, it is much more cohesive and does not suffer from such lyrical commentary. Unfortunately, the documentary is characterized by a low quality of material, which undoubtedly relates to the processing of older film materials. Overall impression: 50%. (26.07.2009)

I admit that Pasolini's comments (= verses) may seem pathetic, subjective, and leftist to some, but ultimately they appear more sincere, deeply felt, and thoughtful compared to Guareschi's opinions. And by no means do I want to dwell on the characters of both artists and accuse Guareschi of intentional insincerity or falseness. The essence of the matter lies in the fact that the author of Don Camillo conveys his opinions without clearly revealing and acknowledging his own ideological position (most likely based on conservatism). Therefore, when he speaks about freedom (Eastern Berlin immigrants fleeing across the wall for "freedom"), he presents his conception of freedom as an objective form of freedom for all people. By doing so, he becomes an equally non-objective "ideologue," perceived as such from the very beginning of the film by Pasolini, and we should not be deceived by his selective sarcasm and detachment (why is irony only turned against others?). However, there is one significant difference - Pasolini admits it to us in the introduction, reflects on his ideological position, and therefore his dialogue with us is more sincere from the beginning. Then all we have to do is be convinced by the depth of his understanding of the world's course, undoubtedly colored subjectively but also undoubtedly more human and truthful. (06.10.2013)