Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian writer turned director, is probably best known for his shocking film "Salo: 120 Days of Sodom," where a group of teenagers are brutalized, physically, emotionally and sexually, by their captors during WWII. Pasolini, a homosexual, made several films in the 60's and 70's which are finally gaining recognition in the 90's. Unfortunately, they are rather hard to find. "Salo" played once in a museum but I missed the showing. The next time the director's work became available to me was when I found "Oedipus Rex" at my local Blockbuster Video. After watching the film, I wish I would have passed it up.

Pasolini's adaptation of the classic drama is as airy and as monochromatic as his Moroccan backdrop. Brown is the motif of the film and brown it is. Often silent, the film takes on two tones, perfectly brought to the film by actor Franco Citti, who is either quiet or screaming. Citti has no other range. He is either off or on. Both are quite abysmal. The film bores us into pacifism during it's opening silent passages (the strained monotone musical score keeps us from slipping into sleep) and then wakes us only to fully assault us with Citti's screaming. It's rather dreadful.

Pasolini bookends the film with two modern segments, a sort of prologue and epilogue. What these mean are anybody's guess. There may be some sort of correlation between the ancient tale and Italy's political situation circa 1967 but one would have to be a political scholar to understand this. Pasolini makes no sense throughout these segments at all. We simply do not understand their significance. It's all rather pointless.

Then again, the story of Oedipus is rather pointless itself. I'm not truly familiar with the tale and, to be quite honest, I'm not all that interested. In Pasolini's eyes, the film seems to have two themes. 1) Heed the warnings of the prophets and 2) absolute power corrupts absolutely. Pasolini could have simply written these on little cards and passed them out at parties to get these messages across. He didn't have to bore us with this pointless epic.

Also in the film are Pasolini himself (as the high priest!), Silvana Mangano, avant-garde film and theatre director Carmelo Bene, and Julian Beck from New York's Living Theatre. Of these only Mangano is a true thespian and she, wisely, says little in the film. Mainly she sits around and looks lovely, a wise choice. Nobody knows what they are doing here. The film makes no sense and the actors can make no sense of it. Not surprisingly, they seem to just be going the motions on screen.

Pasolini spends much of his time showing us the backdrop of the film with several apparent natives popping up here and there. One has a hard time believing anyone still lives like this and yet one must believe they do. Pasolini tries in vain to inject some color into the film at times but it all falls flat. The overwhelming dreariness of the area permeates the film. Of course, this may be the proper setting for the plot, but it sure doesn't make it any easier to watch. Film scholars often cite the beauty of the Morocco background in the film but I believe this is because they simply cannot think of anything else good to say about the film.

One of the film's biggest flaws is it's lack of eroticism. Now I realize that this was made in 1967 but surely Pasolini could have included more between Oedipus and his mother (even if this isn't part of the source material). There is something disturbing and (obviously) complex about a mother and son coupling, especially when the son has killed the father. Pasolini does almost nothing with this textural element. There is no passion, no interest whatsoever in the coupling of the familial unit. A great opportunity for psychological complexity is passed up here in order to be (seemingly) acceptable and faithful to the source material.

"Oedipus Rex" is a drab and lifeless film that often becomes humorous because of Citti's lack of skill. Watching him struggle to emote can often be hilarious. Pasolini's own lack of budget can be humorous at times too. Mid-film, Oedipus finds a group of citizens deserting a village because a great beast is tormenting them. Oedipus, of course, saunters forth to slay the beast. What does Pasolini have to offer us as this absolute horror? A man in a silly mask. This pretty much describes the film. A phony attempt at a classic that doesn't have the talent behind it to make it work. It just looks dull and silly.

Note:

In sparse Italian with subtitles.

The modern epilogue is filmed in Rome.

Scripted by Pasolini himself. Photographed by Giuseppe Ruzzolini. Music by Pasolini and Mozart with some popular roman songs and ancient Japanese music thrown in.

Pasolini based this work on two of Sophocles' works, "Oedipus Rex" and "Oedipus at Colonus."

Pasolini was murdered in 1975.

Also filmed in 1957 by Tyrone Guthrie and in 1967 by Phillip Saville (with Orson Welles, Donald Sutherland, Christopher Plummer and Cyril Cuscak).

Review written in 1996

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