If you love films, film-making, Italy, Sardinia, or are a student of film, whether DP, editor, or director, you must see this film. There are many pearls here; one comes away from this experience with a new-found appreciation for what one man can accomplish with a single camera; making "his" movie his way. De Seta does it all-- WriterDirector, DP,
"Bandits of Orgosolo"exhibits one of the finest uses of natural lighting, actual moon light (sole source),captured on film-- as well as excellent use of local talent on location in Sardinia (non-actors).
The dubbing is the only fault of the picture; however, all of the other elements such as camera work, lighting, sound, editing, content, and story are genuinely engaging, but more than that-- leave you with a most sensual experience-- you almost smell the goats, and the shepherds!
I had the pleasure of meeting Vittorio De Seta, and his entourage of young filmmakers from Italy, in 2004 at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival where he was awarded a Distinguished Career award, and featured as a Special Guest, with introduction and interview by Martin Scorsese. The theatre was packed, not a sound could be heard during the screening of this riveting motion picture, and the Q&A following.
The Bandits of Orgosolo holds up well, a truly artistic film that captures a way of life, long gone. Its surreal and timeless quality makes this simple story even more engaging. This is one of the finest Black & White films you will ever see. Stunning cinematic details, with a magical all its own.
See it! Like the out of print book, "Notes on Cinematography" by Robert Bresson, no student of film should miss this.It's THAT GOOD.
100% - Critics
91% - Audience
7.8Plot summary
In the harsh granite mountains of the center of the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea, an old people live at the town of Orgòsolo. Between the rocks and the oak woods, shepherds attend their flock of sheep like their fore fathers did since prehistoric times. So do Michele and his younger brother Peppeddu that own a few sheep and make a harsh but honest living selling pecorino cheese. One day arrive three bandits on the run with machine guns and stolen pigs that take a rest at Michele's camp site. When the police arrives a day later, they run and kill a policemen in flight. Michele takes his sheep and escapes in the opposite direction and becomes a fugitive. Hunted by the police, while afraid to stand trial and leave his sheep poorly protected by his young brother, Michele decides to take Peppeddu and his flock over the mountains. Half way his sheep die of exhaustion and thirst, leaving the brothers without living so that nothing remains but returning to Orgòsolo. There they hear that Michele has been condemned for conspiracy to murder and that his creditors threaten to sell their house leaving their mother homeless, since no sheep are left to pay the dept. Nothing remains for Michele but to take up a machine gun and rob some sheep, become a bandit himself and leave a fellow shepherd in peril, thus starting a vendetta and a new cycle of violence.
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Movie Reviews
Bandits of Orgosolo
Harsh setting, soft drama.
Equal parts documentary and drama, the film succeeds brilliantly at the former. We really do get a sense of how this harsh, flinty landscape shapes the people who live in it and how the customs and structures of modern (city) life would feel so foreign to them. The use of chiarscuro lighting in darker scenes, figures set amidst the cathedral lighting of the forest, and the imposing presence of Michele filmed looking upward as he is framed against harsh, white, rocky hillsides and the bottomless gray sky, give a sense of the inherent drama that lies in these people's day to day survival. Unfortunately the drama of the simple, predictable, and yet intrusive plot can't match that of the landscape and the film's pace is occasionally plodding (we literally spend a third of the film watching sheep being driven up and down hillsides). My review: a shrug. But worth a look if you want to learn something about this out-of-the-way corner of the world. 6/10.
stunning look at peasants' realities
beautiful opening scene - a chase scene through the woods - terrific black and white photography - down-to-earth story about the down-trodden. have not seen this movie since i projected it in berkeley in '69 or '70. would buy it in a heartbeat if it was on DVD. nobody believes there was an Italian director named de seta, not de sica! the actors are real people - not actors - and do a brilliant job of being "real" without acting to "seem real". the camera work shows off the unsung star of this film - the sardinian landscape in all of its stark beauty.i would absolutely recommend this film (and would love to see it again myself) and think it's a shame that work this good can sink into obscurity.