Magia nuda

Had trouble watching this one. The obsession with bodily fluids went more than just a tad overboard. Although I personally am a fan of Mondo films, this one didn't make the "I wanna see it again" list. Supposedly, it also offended the unoffendable (Is that a word? It's my word now.) John Waters.

Since it came out in 1975 after the first Mondo wave, I get the impression the producers were just piling on the grossness. I won't go into detail here, (Some of you may be eating.) But some of those first scenes almost made ME puke. And I'm a card carrying fan of the Italian Cannibal-Zombie films. It had some decent cinematography. That's the one compliment I'll give it.

This is an odd film. I originally had it in a Clamshell VHS tape format. The cover had a big cartoon eyeball and some other strange graphics like a man being hung by hooks. Wasn't sure what to expect. I think I was expecting more modern settings.

What you get in mostly primitive people and their use of "magic", which basically involves running around naked, animal slaughter, hurting each other, pee bathing, and suckling puppies, but mainly slaughtering animals.

It's actually a pretty interesting film. It's probably gross to people who are used to fast food, fast cars, and mortgage payments. A lot of the scenes in this film to me just seemed to be documentation of primitive people around the world and their day to day practices that seem gross to us because they are so different. It's hard to believe people lived like what was shown even in 1975. Some of the footage could very well have been from decades earlier than that.

If nothing else the flick serves as a time capsule of primitive people, with some goofy newer scene of things like psychic surgery throw in for good measure. I liked it. I've seen it 4 or 5 times over the years. It never fails to astound! It is how you say, Mucho Mondo!

I must say I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I hoped I would. It was more on the voodoo and ritualistic side than any film by the makers of the "CANE" movies, but its candidness did appeal to me. However about an hour into it I lost interest and didn't finish the rest of it. Another thing is that it felt too fake, sometimes it was too obvious. But if you would like something to spark the imagination and have too much time on your hands, you'll like it.

My review was written in October 1984 after a screening at Liberty theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Shocking Cannibals" is an Italian shockumentary made in 1974 under the more accurate title "Naked Magic", currently imported as a gross-out exploitation film. Despite the prestigious names of producer Alberto Grimaldi (whose PEA banner coproduced) and high-minded narration written by novelist Alberto Moravia, film is a relentlessly sensationalist look at primitive peoples that is very difficult to endure, even for the hardened 42nd Street grindhouse devotees.

The only cannibals here, and that's really stretching it, are an Indian tribe living on the Amazon river who pulverize the bones of their dead tribesmen and mix the dust with a banana mash for an annual ritualistic drink, meant to allow the dead folks' souls to go free into the next world.

Cheap thrills-seekers have plenty of non-cannibalistic activities to observe, ranging from primitive survival activities of African tribesmen living around the White Nile river, Ethiopian medical and metaphysical (exorcism) rituals, and that old standby, the Filipino healer who perform magical operations on camera, removing cysts, tumors and leftover props from "The Exorcist" out of people's bellies without leaving any sign of an incision.

Moravia's text intones against the evils of civilized man despoiling the primitives' world, but what we watch is an extremely narrow view of their existence, namely the rituals and both food-seeking and sacrificial slaughter of animals. This is sheer exploitation, and he inclusion of nearly hardcore sex scenes on camera further ensures the picture an X rating, though the dozen or so fictional and docu-style brutality films (mostly Italian-made) currently floating around Stateside are not usually submitted to he MPAA's rating board.

MONDO MAGIC will make you lose your lunch. After spending considerable time with a filthy African tribe, the "producers" cross the water to find another equally filthy South American tribe. Animals are slaughtered, prepared and eaten by hand; bodily fluids and excreta are glorified and liberally distributed across the screen; nearly everybody is naked, nearly all the time.

The narrator says this is all tied in with "magic," but MONDO MAGIC is hardly a serious study of primitive magic or religion. It's more like a montage of disgusting scenes that are probably 100% authentic. (Circumcised African tribesmen don't shock me since the rite is ancient and originated in Africa, whence came the Israelites).

The Intermedia DVD version I saw this evening was "re-edited," and clocks in at 84 minutes -- the "sex magic" seems to have been cut from the film. Crude anatomy lessons are plentiful, however.