Ultime grida dalla savana
Savage Man Savage Beast | |
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Directed by | |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Narrated by | Giuseppe Rinaldi |
Cinematography | Antonio Climati |
Edited by |
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Music by | Carlo Savina |
Distributed by | Titanus Distribuzione |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | Italy |
Language | Italian |
Ultime grida dalla savana (lit. 'Final Cry from the Savanna'), also known as by its English title Savage Man Savage Beast, is a 1975 Italian mondo documentary film co-produced, co-written, co-edited and co-directed by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra. Filmed all around the world, its central theme focuses on hunting and the interaction between man and animal. Like many mondo films, the filmmakers claim to document real, bizarre and violent behavior and customs, although some scenes were actually staged.[1] It is narrated by the Italian actor and popular dubber Giuseppe Rinaldi and the text was written by Italian novelist Alberto Moravia.
This was the first film of Climati's and Morra's Savage Trilogy, which also includes Savana violenta (This Violent World) and Dolce e selvaggio (Sweet and Savage). Arguably the most notorious film of the trilogy, Ultime grida dalla savana became influential in exploitation cinema by use of cinematographic techniques that were repeated in numerous subsequent Mondo films.[2] Two scenes in particular, a lion attack on a tourist in Namibia and the murder of an indigenous man by a group of mercenaries in South America, have gained notoriety as genuine footage of human death. The film also sparked a rivalry between the team of Climati and Morra and the brothers Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni. These two teams became the forerunners of the second generation of mondo cinema.[3]
Synopsis
The film is a depiction of various scenes, usually violent or bizarre, that somehow relate to hunting. Each scenario is presented one after the other with little regard for
Other hunting traditions then follow, again rooted in religion. The warriors of the Kuru tribe in Africa commit a sacred act in which they
Another anti-hunting demonstration becomes the film's focus, this time on the
An examination of a hunting tradition in northern Europe follows, where falcons assist humans in hunting by catching wild game, such as rabbits and pheasants. Further collaboration with man and animal is highlighted, this time with cheetahs. To demonstrate the cheetah's speed and effectiveness, a chase between a group of cheetahs and ostriches is arranged, in which the birds are hunted down and killed. The next animal collaborators are dogs, which hunt wild boar in Patagonia and a puma which has attacked a herd of sheep and a shepherd. In cities, however, stray dogs are the ones hunted by dog catchers, which the narrator claims demonstrates that the hunt is still active, but the prey has changed. Indios also use dogs to hunt monkeys, but their efforts are compared to mercenaries hunting the Indios themselves to clear them from their native land for development. In one such instance, mercenaries retaliate against a death of a workman by hunting down a group of Indios, one of which they torture, castrate and murder. Various scenes of wildlife are then shown, after which orangutans are hunted to be sold to zoos. The film then ends with the coexistence of man and animal between Erik Zimen, an ecologist, and wolves, the group of animals he wishes to save.
Production
Direction
As their former cinematographer, Climati drew influence from the Mondo films of
Music
The songs and musical score used in the film were composed and written by Carlo Savina and
Reaction
The film was released in Italy on 24 October 1975, and internationally in 1976. The film fared well in Asia; in 1976, Ultime grida dalla savana was outgrossed in
Criticism
The content of the film, particularly the graphic violence and human death, has been criticized as too explicit and exploitative. Robert Firsching of
The reason for the film's notoriety, however, is a collection of grainy 16 mm images depicting the horrific round-up, mutilation, castration, and slaughter of a group of tribesmen by white mercenaries. As appalling and revolting a sequence as ever depicted in a documentary film, the massacre footage marked something of a turning point in the development of the mondo subgenre, which moved increasingly toward snuff-like collections of death and mutilation.[9]
Time Out Film Guide made similar criticisms of the film's content, calling it "[a] bloody, blatantly exploitative mess of a movie", and says it is "just another opportunity to gawp at raw scenes of sex and (more especially) violence".[10] Due to its graphic content, the film was also used by James Ferman at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts as an example of the need for film censorship.[11]
The inclusion of several staged or scripted scenes has made the film a target for critical condemnation. Numerous scenes have been proven fake, including the anti-fox hunting campaign involving the fictional "Wild Fox Association" and the murder of the indigenous men by mercenaries. During another wildlife rally, the fabrication of the scene is apparent with the presence of Italian porn star Ilona Staller. The lion attack on Pit Dernitz is also suspected of being a fabrication by film historians.[12][13]
Although staged footage has been included since the early history of Mondo cinema, these scenes are nonetheless targets for critical abashment. Kerekes and Slater call the anti-fox hunt sequence "self-parody",[5] and Goodall labels the same scene as "ludicrous".[4] The staged scenes of human death have also been criticized for being more exploitative than educational. Aside from his criticism of the film's staged footage, Goodall also points out the reuse of sequences of African tribal hunting and poaching from Africa addio as a flaw of the film.[4]
Controversy
Due to its graphic content, Ultime grida dalla savana has encountered censorship issues with certain countries' film boards. In Australia, the
The film faced similar censorship problems for its theatrical release in the
But in Italy was rated only 14.
Influence
The release of Ultime grida dalla savana initiated a rivalry between Climati and Morra and two other Italian Mondo film makers, Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni. These two filmmaking teams became the frontrunners of the Mondo genre in the late seventies and early eighties.[3] The Castiglionis had made two previous Mondo films, Africa segreta and Africa ama, before the release of Ultime grida dalla savana. They later released three additional films: Magia nuda in 1975, Addio ultimo uomo in 1978, Africa dolce e selvaggio in 1982. Climati and Morra made two follow-up films to Ultime grida dalla savana. The first followup, Savana violenta, also known as Savage Man Savage Beast no. 2, was released in 1976. Savana violenta was slightly less graphic in its depiction of violence.[9][17] The last film, Dolce e selvaggio, was released in 1983 and consisted partly of outtakes and recycled footage from Climati and Morra's two previous films. Each subsequent release by the two parties would attempt to outperform the previous films with more explicit and shocking content.
The scenes of human death, which were shot in a manner that resembled an observational documentary, became influential in exploitation cinema, as several subsequent films would use similar filming techniques to lend certain scenes a sense of increased realism. The Mondo film Addio ultimo uomo, directed by the brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni, includes a scene of "amateur footage" that mimics the scene in which mercenaries hunt natives in Ultime grida dalla savana. This scene, in which an African bushman is captured, tortured, and castrated by a rival tribe, has also been proven staged.[18] Again in 1978, the death film Faces of Death included fabricated "amateur footage" that is a reenactment of the death of Pit Dernitz, replacing lions with a bear.[19] Firsching and Goodall also note that Ultime grida dalla savana was a transitional film within the genre,[9] as it, "provided a vital link between the 'classic' shockumentaries of the early-mid 1960s and the much crueller mondos of the mid 1970s and beyond."[6]
Director Ruggero Deodato also used this camera style prolifically in his film Cannibal Holocaust, in which a group of filmmakers goes missing after they head into the South American rain forest to make a documentary on local cannibal tribes. In the film, only the team's footage is recovered, which is all shot in the cinéma vérité style that resembles the "amateur footage" in Ultime grida dalla savana.[20] The footage from Cannibal Holocaust proved so realistic that Deodato was arrested for making a snuff film. Charges were ultimately dropped when he produced the supposedly slain actors for the courts.[21][22]
References
- ^ Kerekes pp. 127–130
- ^ Goodall pp. 113–114
- ^ a b Kerekes p. 134
- ^ a b c d e Goodall p. 112
- ^ a b Kerekes p. 127
- ^ a b c Goodall p. 111
- ^ "All-Time Foreign Grossers In Japan". Variety. 7 March 1984. p. 89.
- ^ Kerekes p. 256
- ^ a b c Robert Firsching. "Ultime Grida dalla Savana > Review". All Media Guide. Retrieved 2007-10-04.[permanent dead link]
- ^ J. Py. "Savage Man... Savage Beast movie review". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ^ Kerekes p. 130
- ^ Goodall pp. 108, 112
- ^ Kerekes p. 128
- ^ "Film S". Refused-Classification.com. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ^ "Savage Man - Savage Beast rated X by the BBFC". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- Valtion elokuvatarkastamo. Retrieved 2007-11-09.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Goodall pp. 115, 119
- ^ Kerekes p. 136
- ^ Brottman p. 148
- ^ Goodall p. 113
- ^ Ruggero Deodato (interviewee) (2003). In the Jungle: The Making of Cannibal Holocaust (Documentary). Italy: Alan Young Pictures.
- ^ Deodato, Ruggero (2000-11-12). "Cult-Con 2000". Cannibal Holocaust DVD Extras (Interview). Interviewed by Sage Stallone; Bob Murawski. Tarrytown, New York.
Bibliography
- Brottman, Mikita. Offensive Films. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2005.
- Goodall, Mark. Sweet & Savage: The World Through the Shockumentary Film Lens. London: Headpress, 2006.
- Kerekes, David, and David Slater. Killing for Culture: An Illustrated History of Death Film from Mondo to Snuff. London: Creation Books, 1995.
External links