Porcile
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Year Released: 1969
Rating: 1.5
Enigmatic dual narrative - one involves a near-mute cannibal soldier storming through barren terrain, killing and eating, the other is set in the 20th century, with Fascists and Sons-of-Fascists who simply cannot and will not stop talking about themselves with the utmost flattery. It's a film of ideas, and though Pasolini cannot be faulted for not taking a chance, the pointed and loquacious Fascist section is a dated failure, as Pasolini lets his loathing get the better of him: he even has Jean-Pierre Leaud's character gets improbably 'close' with swine (hence the title). The pained obviousness of that narrative has less power than the brutal and abstract soldier story, and though Pasolini tries to tie the sections together, it's an unconvincing and banal parallel.
