Search - Mondo Cane on DVD

Mondo Magic

bsgoc | St. Louis, MO USA | 02/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED-- This amazing video is a 'must-have!' I rented 'Mondo Cane' (aka Mondo Magic) from a local video store when I was 15 years old, and now, at 28, I still remember with vivid clarity, the exhilarating experience of viewing this profoundly shocking video. YOU WON'T FIND THIS AT BLOCKBUSTER OR HOLLYWOOD VIDEO! Watcher BEWARE, the scenes depict actual documentary-style footage--not a fictionalized account--of native people practicing traditional rituals which may severely conflict with your notion of 'acceptable Western cultural practices.' Hunting, eating, come-of-age initiation and explicit sexual rites, dramatic celebrations, shamanic religious ceremonies and even everyday life scenes around a small village people, provide a significantly shocking experience, while the material is dealt with quite sensitively, almost clinically. This video will broaden your understanding of the profound diversity of human life, sex, religion, and death experiences in cultures different than your own. Be prepared to see with an open mind and a pretty tough stomach, before watching this film. --Loco Bonobo"

Unique

Closer | Alexandria, VA United States | 08/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't quite get reviewers who critique this film along the lines of "maybe it was shocking in 1962, but by TODAY'S standards it's tame". This brilliant, beautiful pastiche of stories is as captivating today as it was then (I suppose---I was two at the time). Reviewers seem overly concerned about whether the film is dated, whether "modern sensibilities" will find it "tame"---do we worry about that with Casablanca, or Beethoven's 5th Symphony, or Hamlet? The film is the film, and as such it is startling different from practically anything I can name. The cinematography is astonishing, and the score combined with the narration achieves a brilliant ironic tone that is remarkably consistent throughout the film. Mondo Cane is an absolute essential in any serious film student's repetoire, and unlike some other essential films, it's captivating (heck, most of the "essentials" are honestly a bore to sit through---from Birth of a Nation to Citizen Kane to Dogstar Man). See it for it's own sake, it's great."

STRANGE CUSTOMS FROM HELL AND BEYOND!

Closer | 03/13/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The peoples of other countries do indeed eat the strangest things. Then again, they don't have Pizza Hut like we do. Amusing at times, and hurtful at others, this theatrically released documentary samples the traditions of other cultures via sometimes grotesque video-tapings of said traditions/customs. Not for xeno-phobes! Oddly, this film also introduces us to the song "More" , a touching instrumental that's acheived status as a standard. My most memorable segment shows us the effects of nuclear testing near a small island group in the South Pacific: the trace radiation destroys the directional instinct of baby turtles who, after hatching, crawl toward the center of a desert island in search of water. In fact, they should be crawling in the opposite direction. An eye-opening sequence to be sure."