Accatone DVD with Franco Citti, Franca Pasut, Silvana Corsini (Unrated) +Movie Reviews

Great Film, Nearly Invisible Subtitles

Ted | Pennsylvania, USA | 11/21/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Buy the other edition. How many times do they need to use white subtitles in black-and-white films?!Sometimes it is virtually impossible to read the subtitles during te film with this edition.Don't get me wrong, this is a great movie, but black-and-white films should have yellow subtitles.Or at least put black bars behind the subtitles so they can be read!"

Another strikeout from Waterbearer

Scott Richardson | Chicago, IL USA | 08/06/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The other reviews have covered the film sufficiently, so I'll just focus on this new DVD edition (although I will say that it seemed to be a bit of a re-hash of "Nights of Cabiria" without any of the pathos).Actually, calling it "new" is a bit of a misnomer, as it appears to be a transfer from an old videotape. This is strongly evident near the end of the film where there are two instances of scrolling video distortion.I really wanted to like this disc. The transfer itself is actually fairly clear (although slightly muted and/or washed-out) and mostly free of specks and dirt (except at the end of each reel). Unfortunately, as with the previous three Waterbearer Pasolini DVD's, this one suffers from no chapter stops and burned-in (non-optional), frequently-unreadable subtitles. At the price Waterbearer is charging, the consumer is going to expect a great deal more than they're getting.Rent it if you're curious, but I'd advise against purchasing this disc unless you're a die-hard Pasolini fan."

Great film- shamlessly bad print

Michael Weston | Chicago, IL United States | 10/02/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"International Film Forum presents a print of this film that couldn't have been much worse if they had pulled an abused 16mm print from the garbage. Visuals: Blacks are washed out, midtones are coarse, visual noise and scars abound. Sound: there is distortion on all significant sounds- this had been used so much that the sound is uniformly damaged. This is simply one of the most worn-out set of reels I've ever seen, in cinema or on video. Even the picture on the box looks dreeadful and has a moire pattern. Bottom line: Avoid- this version is no competition for the entirely servicable earlier release by other parties (though I forget who did it- not Film Forum)."

Poor transfer - terrible subtitles - but a great film

Stalwart Kreinblaster | Xanadu | 09/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is all that's available folks so suffer through the defects and watch a timeless gem of a film. Pasolini's movie is one of the most honest portraits of slum life in Italy - and in fact is more brutally honest than 'nights of cabira' by Fellini (Pasolini actually was responsible for some of the dialogue in that film)."

A Passolini Must-See

Alberto M. Barral | new york | 08/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although this film should have been restored before the transfer to DVD and the subtitles are hard to read as they blend into the white areas, this is still a masterpiece of a film you can not afford not to see if you like Pasolini. "Accattone" is the directorial debut of the Italian neo-realist, Pier Paolo Pasolini, but by a strange coincidence it ended up being the very last of all his movies that I saw. I had seen everything he ever did, including short films by the time I got to "Accatone" and still found it masterful.

Franco Citti stars as the title character, he is a handsome pimp in Rome's post-war lower depths, with an endearing face that speaks volumes of his street-wise upbringing in the slums. To those unaccustomed with Southern Italian culture the way he spends his days with the other local pimps, playing cards and being lazy may seem vile, but it is actually a well grounded tradition, as is also his support of the entire family of his imprisoned friend, Ciccio, who depend on him for survival. He is obviously a fellow mobster, and their code of honor is at stake when Accatone discovers that he is in prison as a result of his whore, Maddalena, played by Silvana Corsini, who denounced Ciccio to the authorities. Even though she is recovering from a broken leg, Accatone forces her to go on the streets, where she is used, beaten and abandoned by Accatone's pals after he tells them the story, then she is found by the police and arrested. Accattone nearly starves to death from the total lack of income, he even sells all his jewelry to get by. He tries to reunite with his wife, with whom he has fathered at least one child, but she sees through his seduction act and her virile, beautiful brother beats up Accatone in an intense erotically-charged scene that seems to simulate sexual assault as much as violence between the men.

After meeting the innocent and beautiful Stella, (Franca Pasut) he is smitten and tries to get a job, so he can support her and his family but he is not accustomed to hardship and has the lack of patience that is typical of spoilt types that have never been trained to work does not make the job last for very long.

Never have I seen a more humane, direct and simple depiction of the tragic life of these undesirables of society. Pasolini is a master painter narrating with a few gestures all their hardship and suffering. Even getting a plate of food in this world is a memorable accomplishment. We see the whole setting as a sideline of modern society's inability to function properly. The 'corrections' by the police seem to be the most unjust of all, and Pasolini presents this panorama of human failing as an allegory of human struggle and spiritual redemption."

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