CAESAR MUST DIE
Italy, 2012, 76 minutes, Black and white/Colour.
Directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.
The Taviani Brothers have been making films for forty years or more, slices of Italian life, memoirs of World War 2, historical dramas and a look back at the early days of Hollywood and D.W. Griffith in Good Morning, Babylon. Now they have gone to the high security prison, Rebibbia, and made a film about a group there which has been experimenting with prisoners and theatre production for some years.
The artistic director, Fabio Cappelli, has collaborated with the Taviani Brothers for the screenplay and appears in his actual role in the auditions and direction sequences.
The play chosen is Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The film opens in colour with the death of Brutus, the curtain call and the acclaim of the audience from outside. It then goes back six months – and into black and white (except for a few select scenes) – to trace the developments in production and performance.
The auditions are quite striking, the prisoners asked to give personal details as if they were at a border crossing, sad to leave their wives, and then, the same information in anger mode against authorities. This gives us an opportunity to see the versatility of the prisoners in performance, as well as to be told of their ages, sentences and reasons for sentence. These men are criminals, some members of the Camorra, drug dealers and murderers. However, as the rehearsals go on, we get to know some of them and admire their acting skills.
Shakespeare’s words have been pared down considerably while retaining the core of the play and the sense of the dramatic tension in key characters. Most of the actors are convincing while, sometimes, guards look on, and other prisoners represent the Roman crowds. Sometimes a touch of personal drama intrudes, for instance when Brutus is upset one day because of a visit.
Then, the play’s audience arrives again, the play is performed and we take up with the Battle of Philippi, the death of Brutus and the curtain call.
Finally, the key prisoners return to the cells, the doors close and they are really in prison again. The credits indicate that the prisoners portraying Caesar and Cassius (who does not have a lean and hungry look) have both written books on their experiences. Brutus as been pardoned and now works in theatre.
The film is cinematically theatrical, an effective communication of Shakespeare and, of course, a positive activity for the prisoners themselves.
1. The work of the Taviani brothers? Glimpses of Italian life? Italian history, social issues, the arts?
2. The project in the prison? Rebibia Prison and its security, the prisoners and the staff? The theatre project, the effort, the effect? Therapy and rehabilitation? The role of theatre and arts?
3. The colour framework, the black and white in the prison? Inserted colour sequences?
4. The choice of Julius Caesar, social, contemporary relevance? Italian story? Roman story? Crime?
5. The film starting with the play, Brutus’s death, the audience applause and the curtain call? The return to this at the end?
6. Going back six months, the work of Fabio Capello, his project? The choice of Shakespeare? Julius Caesar? The prison authorities and their approval?
7. The significance of the auditions, asking the actors to portray two styles of giving information? The prisoners giving their name, address, age, sentences? The allotment of characters to the prisoners?
8. The rehearsals, the selection of scenes, the selection of words from Shakespeare? The prisoners and their skills? The mad seer, Caesar, Cassius, Brutus? Dignity? The film communication the core of the plot? The death of Caesar, Brutus’s speech, Marc Antony and the conspirators, Mark Antony and the crowd, the crowd response, his swaying their opinion? Philippi, Brutus’s death? Enough of the play to communicate the core? In seventy-six minutes?
9. The themes of the play, Caesar and his ambition, Cassius and his insinuations, persuading Brutus? The scenes of the ides of March? Caesar’s death? The role of Mark Antony, Octavius’s arrival, the deaths at Philippi?
10. The quality of the performances, Brutus and his visitor and upsetting him, rehearsal? The guards watching the rehearsals? The prison compound serving for the crowd sequences?
11. The audiences arriving, the performance, the curtain call?
12. The return of the prisoners to their cells, truly in prison?
13. The final credit information – the actor portraying Brutus becoming an actor after an amnesty? The other prisoners who wrote books? An interesting experiment in theatre and rehabilitation?
