frippertronic81

"La visione del Sabba" is a surrealistic tale about witchery , women , sexual desire and satisfaction . It tells the story of a young beautiful woman who has been accused of attempted murder . She is kept in a mental hospital because she claims to be a witch from the 17th century who has been waiting several centuries for the man worthy of taking away her virginity . The case is given to a young psychiatrist who soon becomes fascinated with her world of pagan pleasures and dreams . After the sight of the "Sabbath" during one of these visions , he completely falls under her witchcraft and voluntarily becomes the object of her satisfaction .

What is an interesting but vague and limited subject turns into a watchable film only thanks to Bellocchio's visual talent . The use of the metaphor of witchery to describe the sexual influence ( and power ) that women are able to exert on men it is a provocative reflection about the conventional roles in our society . But as a subject it's somehow like a candle that burns too fast and long before the end of the film it is extinguished . My impression is that the screenplay was not rich enough of ideas and twists and that this fact forced the director to over-extend many sequences , losing himself too often in a self-pleasing and sterile aesthetic ecstasy . Too often in this "Sabbath"-film we feel like the only ones who are truly having fun are the actors and the director .

Overall , it is a good provocative reflection about the power of women and how their desires and needs can make the world change . It is also a nice tale about witchery and an hymn to the pleasures of life . But it becomes too rapidly short of breath , and even through some well-directed scenes , in the second half of the story we feel like we're watching the same concept illustrated over and over again . Bellocchio showed us that he can do much better than this .

"Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sopetto" ("Investigation of a citizen above suspicion") is a surrealistic police-story directed by the Italian film-maker Elio Petri in 1970 .

A very original screenplay tells us the story of a respected police inspector who commits a crime and deliberately leaves clues just to find out how big is his reputation of "a citizen above suspicion" . The theme is developed from this single event and becomes an intelligent and provocative reflection about the concepts of authority and institution . While some could wrongly see this movie as a left-wing political one because of the way it depicts police authorities' excessive power , It is really only a fair illustration denouncing the impotence of institutions of making an impartial investigation about their own mistakes . The main theme of the movie rises up a brilliant and paradoxical question : how can the organs which administrate the "Law" condemn themselves without risking their own collapse and negation ? To this question the movie answers with the pessimistic vision that a real justice is an utopia because of human-beings' weaknesses and self-preservative nature . This brilliant reflection is developed in an highly entertaining and smoothly constructed satirical police-story : in fact the movie has an overwhelming "funny" tone especially thanks to Gian Maria Volonte' superb acting in the main role of the "fascistoid" police inspector . The ending will surprise you with the way it reveals the surrealistic nature of the whole topic .

Even if this movie was highly awarded and acclaimed at its time , (1 Oscar for Best foreign film , 1 Nomination for Best original screenplay , won Grand Prize of the Jury and Golden Palm nomination at Cannes Films Festival , 1 Golden globe nomination ) at the present days it has been criminally forgotten . I can only add that I personally consider it one of the best Italian films ever made and one of the most provocative police-stories in the last 40 years . Unfortunately it suffers of a very poor international distribution so , unless you live in Italy , it won't be easy for you to find this movie . But it doesn't matter how hard it will be , it will be worth it .

Well , this is a true masterpiece . I won't go much in details since there already 92 comments about it . I'll just express my views . I don't understand why many critics don't see it like a top movie and why they consider "Full Metal Jacket" or "The thin red line" so superior . I mean , I love those movies but considering this was made in 1930 I think it is more or at least equally important . I am actually astonished by the fact that a pacifist , high budget , movie could be done in those years . And what style , what poetry ! The battle scenes are very realistic and still enjoyable today : probably in 1930 they had a more shocking effect than Saving private Ryan's first 20 mins have in our days . This movie is technically amazing . Some of the lines are just unforgettable and incredibly sincere . Characters are real human beings: they cry during bombings , they steal things from dead friends , they fight for bread and women . It's so ahead of its time that it's often hard to believe it : most of the scenes here became war movies clichés . Even masterpieces like Apocalypse Now , Paths of glory and the ones I already mentioned stole a lot of ideas from "All is quiet on the western front". And there's some room for humour too , it's just perfect . War movies didn't take many steps forward after this . My personal beliefs in life are not the one of a true pacifist : it's not that I think that war is good it's just that I consider it as an inevitable aspect of human behavior . This is to say that I don't fully agree with the message behind the movie . Still , if I had to choose only one anti-war movie to show to someone I'd take this one . I give this 9 on 9 which is the best on my scale since I don't use 10 nor 1 . Only 21 movies on 1052 gets that mark on my vote history , and "All is quiet ... " got that mark on first vision which is something very very rare for me .