La macchina ammazzacattivi

"La Macchina Ammazzacattivi" ("The Machine That Kills People") is an amazing film. It proves, along with De Sica's "Miracle in Milan", that a Neo-Realist film can be funny as well as surreal. What I mean by 'Neo-Realist' is that there was a style of film popularized just before WWII ended and it continued into about the mid-1950s. Because the studios were broke, they had to content themselves with making films without stars--using locals as well as local buildings and streets instead of sets. Most of these films are rather serious in tone, but this film (as well as the De Sica film) are ridiculously non-serious--and are both charming to boot.

The film is set in a small Italian town. Celestino is a photographer who thinks he's seen the dead patron saint of the village, St. Andrew. This 'saint' bestows on Celestino a great power--a magical camera that can kill! Fortunately, Celestino isn't blood-thirsty. But, when the leaders of the town all show themselves to be a greedy and selfish lot, he reluctantly (at first) uses this gift to punish the wicked. Eventually, however, Celestino goes too far--and this leads to one of the strangest endings I can recall seeing in an Italian film. Suffice to say that I won't say more, as I don't want to spoil the surprise--but it's worth it!

This is a very odd film in that the director, Roberto Rossellini, lost interest in the movie and left it on the shelf. Somewhere along the line, the studio had another director finish it and the film was released--and practically everyone hated it! But, today it's been restored and is a classic. I think that the dark comedy was just ahead of its time, as the film played badly then but works great today due to changing sensibilities. All I know is that I thought the film was wonderful--and it's definitely the best Rossellini film I have seen--and it's filled with many wonderful moments.

Rossellini had a wry sense of humor that showed up particularly in L'AMORE and his life of Francis of Assisi. Unfortunately for him, film making is a commercial art, and when people want to see a film by Roberto Rossellini, they want a drama. So this comedy, which owes a lot to E.T.A. Hoffman and Ernst Lubitsch (the preface even borrows from Lubitsch' DIE PUPPE) confounded the audiences. They expected a serious, small scale tragedy, and so didn't laugh. They stayed away and the film vanished for almost half a century. If you wanted a black comedy, you went to see a Billy Wilder film. Rossellini went back to doing what his audiences expected of him.

It's a pity. This is not a ground-breaking film for Rossellini, but it is a beautifully photographed and well-acted comedy with some wonderful pick-up shots.

If you see this movie, I suggest that you go in without any expectation of seeing a Rossellini film. Just give it the chance that you would give a film by some one you've never heard of before. On those terms, I expect you'll enjoy it a lot.

Aren't those the terms we should offer every movie?

The photographer in a small seaside village is visited by a spirit who gives him the power to kill people if he uses his camera to photograph photographs of his intended victims.

Rossellini had created a strange and enjoyable moral comedy with the photographer deciding who is bad and who isn't and losing sight of his strict moral compass as he goes about his business. The comedy is quite broadly mixed with some extreme, almost slapstick elements. The cast is enormous and you quickly get to recognise and enjoy the company of both good and bad as in any village. An eccentric pleasure.