Don Camillo

OK, I have to say that the old Don Camillio films were excellent, but this one is not as bad as people would let you know.

It is said that the hard line communists are watered down and that Don Camillio is too cool (not too cold and remote, but too hip, to trendy).

Well, it is in the eighties, so one should bare in mind that it was the time when everybody was tired of the constant struggle between the communists and the church. So having them actually work together and showing more of the down sides of a worldly priest and more or less a positive side of a communist leader of a local community is also a message. You can't have a crusade against something that's not evil, but simply is. The communists in that era (acctually in all eras after the death of Lenin) who lived outside the Eastern Block (and most of them in the Eastern Block as well) were not monsters trying to destroy everything. So in this case you see a very human communist mayor and a skeptical priest, who is still trying to fight communism for the very principle of it, even if there is really no need for it.

In my opinion it's a great movie, but with a completely different message from the original series. The times have changed, and so has the situation and Terence Hill saw that change and tried to incorporate it in the movie. It's actually very good that there were no stereotypical communist bad guys (like it's a positive thing to present the low ranking officers in Nazi Germany as humans instead of blood thirsty monsters).

In the first place, I clarify that this is a automatic translation of my original language review, in Spanish, so that I request excuses by any spelling mistake. I believe that although it is a good adaptation of "Don Camillo, little world", does not happen of one movie to spend the short while. I believe that make a new version, and suggest to Roberto Begnini for the role of Don Camillo, and somebody like Danny De Vitto or Joe Pesci on the Peppone's role. Terence Hill, is well in the role in that version of film, but I don't believe that is sufficient like equaling the original movie of 1952. Some of the jokes they are not understood for the American audience that it does not know in general almost hysterical humor of the Italian cinema.

Terence Hill does a surprisingly adept job of directing this film (according to IMDB, it was his first effort behind the camera), but there isn't much of a script to support him; most of the laughs are supposed to come from seeing a priest do such "outrageous" things as cheating at cards, roller-skating in his church and organizing amateur soccer games. The spirit of the film is just too gentle for a successful satire. At 120 minutes, it's also overlong - especially since the dramatic incidents don't build out of each other. It does have a beautiful score by Pino Donaggio. (**1/2)

Back in the early nineties (oh, what glorious times), my dad and the 9-year-old version of myself were tremendous fans of the action/comedy duo Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. We videotaped a lot of their films on TV and collected them, including this one. At first it was a minor disappointment that Bud Spencer wasn't the actor playing Mayor Peppone, but it nevertheless became a childhood favorite that I must have seen at least 15 to 20 times! Of course, I was young and didn't pay attention to many things. For example, I was totally unaware that Hill's film was a reboot of a popular film series of the fifties (starring Fernandel) and the political undertones were also completely lost on me. Through the eyes of 9-year-old, this is simply a fun and exhilarating movie about a fit and atypical priest versus a mean and sleazy mayor! They argue, bare-knuckle fight and eventually assemble as many local kids as possible to settle their differences via a soccer game. The game turns into an unforgettable climax, with the church boys in blue and the town hall kids in red, and ending in a giant mass-fight in the pouring rain. Apart from the soccer game, there are numerous sequences that I still know by heart, even though it must have been 25 years since I last saw it. Terence Hill simply was the coolest priest ever! He drove around town on a dirt bike, he had the coolest dog and he talks to God via and old and color-faded Jesus Christ statue.

Note: for once the Dutch title is reasonably clever, as it contains wordplay and can be translated in two equally relevant ways, namely "Don Camillo hits hard" or "Don Camillo goes bonkers".

This movie lacks the charm and the warmth of the original stories by Guareschi. Transporting the context 30 years forward into present-day (that is: 1980s) Italy was probably the right thing to do, since the distance in time wasn't big enough to film this as a period piece, but turning Don Camillo into such a cool dude rips the heart out of these stories. Mario Girotti plays the character in Trinity style, aloof, quirky, dead-pan; but this Camillo is barely recognisable as the passionately caring priest of the books. I don't think the earlier Camillo incarnation by Fernandel was right either (e.g. Fernandel's Camillo was not physical enough), but at least it exuded the required warmth.

A cool Don Camillo creates another problem: what happens with his constant little battles with Peppone and his party? Peppone's communist shenanigans are similarly toned down and as a result the antagonism between the two sides does not ring true - at least not to the extent the stories require. Thus, this film version also lacks the tension, conflict and hatred between the two camps. Perhaps there was some sensitivity here towards the American market: no children's movies with real communists in them, please!

A few changes to cater for the international market are also embarrassing: the two soccer teams are called "Angels" and "Devils" (in English!) and a couple of the songs performed in Church are in English as well. This is situated in rural Italy!