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Gillo Pontecorvo (b. 1919, Pisa, Italy - d. 2006, Rome, Italy)



I'm still a man of the left, searching,
not knowing how, especially since I
really know nothing about politics,
searching for a way to change the
terrible things in our world.


Filmography

I Miracoli non si Ripetono / Miracles Only Happen Once (1951) assistant director

Le infedeli / The Unfaithfuls (1953) assistant director

Storia di Caterina (1953) episode L'amore in città / Love in the City assistant director

Missione Timiriazev (1953)

Porta Portese (1954)

Festa a Castelluccio (1954)

Totò e Carolina (1955) assistant director

Giovanna (1955)

Cani dietro le sbarre (1955)

La Grande strada azzurra / The Wide Blue Road (1957) Image R1 OOP - Medusa R2

Giovanna (1957) segment Die Windrose / Rose of the Winds

Pane e zolfo (1959)

Kapò (1959) Cristaldi R2 - Gaumont R2

Paras (1963)

La Battaglia di Algeri / The Battle of Algiers (1966) Criterion R1 - Cristaldi R2 - DNC R2 - Madman R0 - Studio Canal R2

Queimada / Burn! (1969) MGM R1 - Orbit R2

Ogro / Operation Ogre (1979) Cristaldi R2

L'Addio a Enrico Berlinguer (1984)

The Devil's Bishop (1988)

Udine (1989) segment 12 registi per 12 città

Danza della fata confetto (1996)

I Corti italiani (1997) segment Nostalgia di protezione

Un Altro mondo è possibile / Another World Is Possible (2001)

Firenze, il nostro domani (2003)


Forum Discussions

The Battle of Algiers (Criterion)

Burn!

The Wide Blue Road


Internet Resources

Gillo Pontecorvo - Wiki entry

Gillo Pontecorvo - Film Reference

Gillo Pontecorvo - Sheila Whitaker (Obituary, The Guardian)

Gillo Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers - Derek Malcolm (The Guardian, 2000)

A Marxist Poet: The Legacy of Gillo Pontecorvo - Alexander Billet (Monthly Review, 2006)

Stay close to reality - Maria Esposito (WSWS, 2004)

Talking With Gillo Pontecorvo - Gerald Peary


Publications

The Battle of Algiers - Franco Solinas (Scribner, 1973)

Filmguide to the Battle of Algiers - Joan Mellon (Indiana University Press, 1973)

Gillo Pontecorvo: From Resistance to Terrorism - Carlo Celli (Scarecrow Press, 2005)

The Italian Political Filmmakers - John J. Michalczyk (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1986)
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Is the English-language version of Queimada! (Burn!) worth watching, if only to hear Brando deliver the dialogue? It's just that at present I've no way to see the uncut edition, thanks to MGM's shoddy treatment of the film.

royalton wrote:Is the English-language version of Queimada! (Burn!) worth watching, if only to hear Brando deliver the dialogue? It's just that at present I've no way to see the uncut edition, thanks to MGM's shoddy treatment of the film.

This may sound completely insane but I much preferred the mutilated English-language "Burn!" to the full-length Italian dub that screened a few years back. Pontecorvo and Brando both despised the US cut but the two versions are mostly identical except for one completely new scene. Otherwise, the extra 20 minutes of "Queimada" are simply made up of small extensions of existing scenes. I honestly didn't feel that I had missed much. There are two reasons why I may feel this way. First of all, "Burn!" is one of my all time favorite films. I have lived with it for years. Perhaps seeing the film with 20 extra minutes I had never seen before was simply jarring. Second of all, the extended version is dubbed. Brando had a way of delivering very political dialogue and analysis in a fashion which seemed completely natural and non-didactic. With the extended version, certain passages felt like lectures.

I have no doubt that ultimately Pontecorvo is right and I am wrong but until an English language version of "Queimada" becomes available I still prefer the US edit. So definitely check it out. The film is a masterpiece, IMO, although the first half has its decent number of flaws and improbabilities. The second half rivals anything in "The Battle of Algiers." For those who may be interested, these are the missing scenes as I remember it:

1 At the beginning of the film, while approaching the island, as William Walker (Brando) is taking in the scene, the guide's explication of the island's history extends further than in the US cut - talks about the island's bank, English-Portuguese antagonism, etc.

2. Once W. Walker finds that his contact Santiago has been imprisoned, he does not merely go to the prison and get to view his beheading. Instead he approaches the Portuguese guard that gave him a shove for being English (as seen in the US cut), asks him if he is Portuguese and then pushed him into the water. He is then arrested and gets to views Santiago's beheading from within his prison cell. It is also explained to him that the natives believe that a man's soul lives on on the island if the body is buried in one piece. That is why Santiago is beheaded after his neck is crushed.

3. W. Walker converses with Teddy Sanchez (1st white president of bourgeois republic of Queimada). Sanchez is mestizo, apparently, and wishes he could be the one to lead the upcoming nationalist uprising. Walker insists it must be a black.

4. Walker and Sanchez in a brothel. Cock-fight. Two black men engage in a knife fight. Jose Delores stops them. Camera freezes on Delores as Walker notices him. This motif continues with later scene in which Walker sees Delores willing to fight back.

5. Carnival; day of the assassination of the colonial governor. Shot of slaves dancing through the palace. Some are dressed as Mary and Joseph. There is a little black baby Jesus. Man comments to colonial governor that they allow them to celebrate their pagan festivals but in Christianized form, thus allowing them (the Portuguese) to better extend "civilization" on the blacks.

Hmm... yes, yes, thinking about it again, perhaps "Queimada" is the superior cut. I just hope an audio track for the edited scenes still exist somewhere. Brando's performance was infectious. The dubbing does not do him justice.

Thanks for the reply. Normally I always seek out or insist on waiting for the director's preferred version to become available, but there doesn't seem to be any hope in sight for that at the moment (even among online video), and I'm dying to see this and I'd like to hear Brando's spoken performance. I guess I'll see the extended version later and try this cut now.

A Special Edition of "The Battle of Algiers" from Argent in the UK in August.