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.
But Duke, why in hell's name would anyone wish to watch this tripe?
Well, The Duke can only speak for himself, and so, I will tell you why I decided to watch this tripe.
For one thing, Mondo Cane was a sensation when it was released in 1962. As stated above, it gave rise to a sub-genre which it in fact can only loosely be deemed part of. As a documentary, it raises all sorts of questions, ranging from the filmmaker's involvement in the onscreen mayhem, right through to ethics regarding journalistic impartiality and fabrication. Whilst it's obvious that the events represented took place, the accompanying narration is not always so convincing.
But it's important also as a cultural snapshot, of how a bohemian, Caucasian society in the early sixties saw the world and its inhabitants, customs and relations.
And it's not all shocking violence either.
The film pretty much jumps from the brutal to the delightfully absurd with every other scene. The funeral of Rudolph Valentino segues into a bout of nude frolicking on a New Guinea shoreline. Images of tourists learning to Hoola in Hawaii are countered by a harrowing glimpse into a Singapore "House Of Death", a place where the elderly and terminally ill are taken to die.
This latter sequence is probably the most uncomfortably voyeuristic of the lot. The narrator informs us, as indeed does a sign posted outside, that photography is not permitted on the premises. Yet, still they manage to get in, and so we are presented with a haunting and deeply unsettling parade of withered, resigned faces preparing to breathe their last.
Article comments
1 - Andrés Mego
Hi
Your review is great. I used it as input for my own article about "Mondo Cane" in my blog (in spanish, sorry) Do you have more info about the making of this film?
Regards
Andrés
2 - Elizabeth Riggs
We just got the Mondo Cane movies (just Mondo Cane I and II), and they are as good as I remembered them from the early 60s when I went to see it with one of my guy friends. (Back then, we used to date a lot of guys before settling down to "going steady" and finally to engagement and marriage.) I was then, and am now, fascinated by the juxtaposition of so many seemingly antithetical cultural practices. Back then, I was most intrigued by the Cargo Cult, and have followed info about it. It's almost sad that this quirky view of Heaven and Earth has about gone the way of the Dodo bird. Your review was pretty much along the lines of my "take" on these two movies, and I'll be back for more! Thanks, Duke!
Cheerio!
Elizabeth