L'incroyable vérité

Mondo Cane 2, is a second film in the popular Mondo Cane documentary series. The film is Italian although it is dubbed into English. Like, Mondo Cane this film doesn't just focus on one subject for it's documentary but several rather. Such scenes include Mexican children eating candy in the shape of body parts, a Buddhist who sets himself on fire and a concert where man are slapped to the tune of the music being played. I enjoyed Mondo Cane 2, just like I enjoyed the original Mondo Cane. It is beautifully filmed and all of the scenes right until the very end are fascinating and intriguing. The narrator also gives us some neat facts and during the movie you will once again wonder how some of this footage was filmed. The directors behind Mondo Cane and Mondo Cane 2, would later go on to do more films in the series including Africa: Blood And Guts and Goodbye Uncle Tom. Mondo Cane 2 is another entertaining and fascinating film and I look forward to seeing other films in this very intriguing and entertaining series.

MONDO CANE was an educational documentary featuring shocking scenes of human life and animal life. MONDO CANE 2 is just as educational and interesting, unlike the many imitators that erupted on video (i.e, FACES OF DEATH, etc.).

I can't really write a full-fledged review of the film, as it is just sequence after sequence. It's all interesting and you really learn things from the way it's presented. Some of my favorite scenes: the Parisian transvestite bar; a daring Mexican police shooting range; the Mexican Festival of the Dead (with skulls filled with cream, marzipan corpses, and live parasite tortillas); bugs turned into jewelry; Hawaiian tourists bathing in radioactive mud to freshen their skin; numerous religious fanatical acts in Italy and Portugal; rituals of pain in India; modeling sessions for gory pulp fiction book covers; smuggled footage of illegal slave trading in Africa; Sudanese tribes collecting dewdrops from plants because of a limited water supply; dancers wearing toilet paper being squirted with seltzer water; the Festival of Hard Heads in Italy (must be seen to be believed!); the artist Achille's paint-spitting party; a musical symphony enacted by slapping faces; Asian monks committing self-immolation; a heartbreaking sequence of pollution causing baby flamingos to mutate and die; and an African tribe becomes sterile because of their crocodile meat diet.

Amazing stuff throughout and never too boring, MONDO CANE 2 is lots of fun and will please those looking for something odd, intelligent, and something you can learn from.

Second in the popular shockumentary series is less violent and disturbing than its predecessor, but still has its moments, and packs a punch for squeamish viewers. More bizarre human practices include bug-eating, African slave trade, war, and a dying tribe of primitives in Africa. This last sequence is fairly sad, but most of the other footage is just exploitation for the sake of making another bizarre chronicle of oddities around the world. These films are somewhat educational, but their highly exploitative nature takes away from the credibility. Still, if you liked the first one...

*A guaranteed laugh or more, some may feel like shedding a tear, but all-in-all I thought Mondo Cane 2 was great for a claimed, 'shockumentary'. Far better than the shockumentaries: Faces of Death(which were for the most part fake), and Traces of Death(which was more shocking, but composed of death, accidents, and etc caught on tape accompanied by crappy metal music). The Mondo Cane movies are an Italian version of a National Geographic documentary slapped with sarcasm and exploitation--some of which was amazing footage of the cold hard truth we should all be exposed to. The English dubbing made it easier to watch, yet in some areas they would have done better with subs. The score, like the first's, was appropriate and fun. Overall, it met my expectations after watching the first, and I plan to continue with the series.

For those who enjoyed the original ‘Mondo Cane', this is a less violent, more entertaining collection of sequences from around the world. Less focused on animals, we are treated to a birds' eye view of the crazy customs practiced on and by people. For those who haven't ever seen a ‘Mondo' film, please start with ‘Mondo Cane' and then come back and read this. ‘Mondo Cane 2' has some very shocking images; the most intense I felt was when we watched a Buddhist monk light himself on fire. Overall, however, the focus is on customs that to a foreign eye seem silly or ridiculous, not so much on these violent acts or situations. Filmmakers Jacopetti and Prosperi are masters at reporting truth much the same way a muckraker reports ‘truth', and simply by editing sequences together construct a convincing story that we humans are obsessed with pain and death. A great watch if you get the chance, and if you're really interested in these films there was a great box set released recently containing almost all of Jacopetti's work. It will probably be hard to find to rent, but keep an eye out if you're interested in documentaries as this is one of the best. Rating: 33/40