The Cannibals (Cavani, 1970): ICA Cinema, 6.30pm
The Machine that Kills Bad People film club presents a double bill that puts
catharsis, protest, and personal transformation at the heart of grief.
In the short Mitchell's Death (1977) performance artist Linda Mary Montano
works through the accidental passing of her ex-husband and close friend
Mitchell Payne. Framed in close-up, with her face pierced by acupuncture
needles, Montano narrates her experience, from when she hears of his
death to when she visits the morgue to see his body. Her monotone voice
recalls Buddhist chanting, creating a trance-like incantation. In The Cannibals (1970), Liliana Cavani offers a countercultural
retelling of Antigone in fascist state, set to an Ennio Morricone
soundtrack and starring Bond girl Britt Ekland and 1960s’ icon Pierre
Clémenti. Made four years before the succès de scandale of The Night Porter
(1974), The Cannibals uses spectacular imagery to tell the story of two
young people who refuse to submit to the government's brutality and
insist on burying the murdered rebels, whose bodies have been left lying
in the street. The film was made near the beginning of the violent
turmoil of Italy’s Years of Lead, leading Cavani to later call it a
“tragic prophecy.” With a specially commissioned essay by CAConrad.
Time Out review:
Made directly after Galileo, whose strengths director Liliana Cavani enlarges and
develops, this also postulates a primacy of human and emotional response
over the nihilism of The Night Porter (made four years later). In this modern day reworking of Antigone,
Cavani's striking visual sense illuminates her subject sufficiently to
overcome doubts about some of the '60s conceits. Where she manages to
evoke her Fascist state as exceptionally normal, the film works
exceptionally well.
Verna Glaesner
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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