When Blue Underground released the 8-disc Mondo Cane Collection in the latter half of 2003, The Duke was instantly intrigued. Comprising Mondo Cane, Mondo Cane 2, Women Of The World, Africa Addio and Zio Uncle Tom, the latter duo complete with separate Directors Cuts, this set housed some of the most notorious, controversial and seldom-viewed films in the history of cinema.

It took a while to get over the extortionate asking-price, and longer still to convince The Duchess that such an item was an essential purchase for a student of Filmic Affairs such as myself, but there came the day when the postman knocked on the gates of Mondo Towers clutching the freshly-imported box.

And it has taken until now for The Duke to finally get a look at those discs contained therein, sitting down this very evening, with a ready supply of caffeine and nicotine, in order to experience the infamous Mondo Cane.

It was pretty much immediately apparent that the film, also known by its literal translation, A Dog's Life, was the victim of both the flood of pale, deplorable, morally repugnant imitations that followed, and a deeply unjust reputation. Far from the seedy, offensive torrent of barbarity that some have claimed Jacopetti and Prosperi's film to be, Mondo Cane is in fact humane, funny and deeply captivating. Which is not to say it doesn't shock the bejeesus out of the viewer on occasion, but there's certainly a lot more to it than sensationalist blood-letting.

Sadly, there is also a fair amount of fabrication, something which would appear even more so in the sequel, itself disowned by at least one half of the directing team.

Mondo Cane opens with a shot of a small dog being led forcefully towards its possibly permanent home in a pound. A written introduction appears onscreen, warning us that what we are about to witness are actual occurrences caught on camera, and we may well be shocked by the realities of the world around us. Contradicting this proclamation, however, is the ridiculously transparent nature of the soundtrack editing at this point. As the dog enters its new home, we hear anguished yelps, growls, snarls. This runs somewhat apposite to the rather jovial nature of the actual events onscreen.
But if this bout of animal torment is fabricated, then it is more than compensated for by the vicious treatment of less-fortunate creatures over the ensuing two hours.

Research will need to be acquired, but The Duke feels fairly confident in guessing that more vegetarians walked out of screenings of this film than went in. Even the most jaded of onlookers will find it hard to stomach many of the scenes presented. Geese are force-fed, boars are clubbed, cattle are given bottles of beer in order to fatten the stock, and, in the penultimate sequence, and possibly the most infuriating, bulls are beheaded as smug, applauding military generals look on. This is followed by footage taken from a festival in which seemingly an entire town gather to torment yet another bull, which in turn succeeds in goring a few of them into unconsciousness.