Mondo Cane

Director: Paolo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi
Year Released: 1962
Rating: 1.0

Exploitation from around the globe! Started a trend of "mondo" pictures where the primary intent is to shock the audience, and what better to shock them with than pre-civilized cultures behaving 'bizarrely?' Relishes the killing (and occasionally eating) of animals (who have their heads cut off or are tortured before your very eyes) when not showing relatively tame footage of Hawaii or American women exercising. If you were expecting anthropological or sociological insight you've come to the wrong place - if anthropology is your interest I'd advocate reading Frazer's The Golden Bough or some of Claude Levi-Strauss' work. Best bits: the village of shark hunters and the eccentric Yves Klein (inventor of IKB!) painting with women's bodies.