THE MONDO SHOCKUMENTARIES
The mondo film is one of the first Italian exploitation genres and paved the way for more famous entries such as Man From Deep River and Cannibal Holocaust. The definition of mondo films is fairly vague, but there are common conventions to them - essentially, a mondo (which translates to 'world') film is a pseudo-documentary that tends to sensationalise its s
ubject matter. Franco Prosperi, one of the genre's creators, says in the documentary The Godfathers of Mondo that mondo films are 'anti-documentaries' that show a shocking and (supposedly) impartial view of the people and nations they film.
The craze began in 1962, when Italian journalists Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi and Paulo Cavara unleased Mondo Cane. As one of the taglines to the film says, 'It enters a hundred incredible worlds where the camera has never gone before!' and the film is essentially a series of set-pieces displaying shocking world practises - cults, animal slaughter and cultural oddities. Mondo Cane was immensely shocking for its time (though doesn't quite hold up now) even though not all of the footage contained within was genuine. Regardless, the film was phenomenally successful - it won the David Di Donatello Best Production award (the Italian equivelent to the Best Picture Oscar); Jacopetti, Prosperi and Cavara were nominated for the prestigious Cannes Golden Palm and composers Riz Ortolani, Nino Oliviero and Norman Newell were nominated for an Oscar for Best Song, with the piece More. It was ranked third most successful film in 1963 in the US, after heavyweights Lawrence
of Arabia and The Birds. and made Jacopetti, Prosperi, Cavara and Ortolani stars in the Italian film world. A year later, the trio directed The Women of the World which, while it wasn't a mondo film as such, used many of the conventions employed in Mondo Cane. Jacopetti and Prosperi (without Cavara, and he would not return for any of their later films) directed an ill-received sequel to Mondo Cane that year.
In 1966, Jacopetti and Prosperi (pictured left) directed their most intriguing film, Africa Addio. Translating to 'Goodbye Africa', Africa Addio chronicled the change between colonial rule to independence, and the subsequent fighting that arose. Africa Addio was hugely controversial - it's depiction of Congolese rebel conflict led one of Jacopetti and Prosperi's acquaintances on-set to return to Italy and accuse them of 'camera-action', where the mercenaries being filmed murdered captured rebels at Jacopetti's bequest. Jacopetti, cinematographer Antonio Climati and production manager Stanis Nievo were all charged with murder (thou
gh curiously Prosperi wasn't arrested), and they were forced to prove their innocence before an Italian court. Eventually they were acquitted, and the men narrowly avoided becoming international war criminals. This was not the first time Jacopetti had faced a courtroom - sordid rumours abounded about the filmmaker, and in the fifties he was charged with the statutory rape of a thirteen-year-old gypsy, whom he was forced to marry to avoid prison. Controversy still surrounded Africa Addio, and accusations that Jacopetti and Prosperi asked the mercenaries to postpone their invasion of a rebel town still aren't disproven. When it finally reached cinemas, whole cities rioted and a UN delegation met to review seemingly xenophobic content.
By this time, a number of similar films began to be released in Italy. Secret Africa was directed in 1969 by Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni and Guido Guerrasio, and was considered a rip-off of Africa Addio in the sense that it displayed shocking footage of the continent's culture and people. Secret Africa had none of it's predecessor's intelligence and flair, and quickly faded into obscurity. The Castiglioni's directed a follow-up film in 1971 titled Africa Ama (Africa Uncensored). This was considered far better than Secret Africa, and the brothers refined their skills as filmmakers. 1971 also saw the release
of another Jacopetti and Prosperi documentary, though it was a completely inauthentic recreation - Addio Zio Tom (Goodbye Uncle Tom). Tom was a pseudo-documentary on the US slave trade of the 1800s, and employed a number of immensely graphic scenes. Tom was critically mauled, with notable reviewers such as Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert asserting it was an incitement of racial war. Tom was one of the last of Jacopetti and Prosperi's collaborations (before the sub-par Mondo Candido), and they had a fall-out regarding finances and techniques of that latter film. Mondo would never have the same raw, visceral power and quality as what the duo brought to the genre.
There was, after Addio Zio Tom, a steady downward spiral for the mondo genre, however the fact that it became boring spawned one of its most famous derivitives - the Italo-cannibal gut muncher. The first film of this cycle was Man From Deep River (1972), and was directly inspired by the mondo film's shocking images and claims to authenticity. Mondo suffered a brief old-school revival in 1974 with Savage Man, Savage Beast. Whilst this film kept with the conventions of a mondo picture, it lacked the realism as many scenes were staged. The film was directed by Jacopetti and Prosperi cinematographer Antonio Climati (with Mario Morra co-directing), and the film was produced by Prosperi. It was the first in Climati's Savage trilogy, which, like Africa Addio and Africa Ama, focussed on the plights of the Dark Continent.
Mondo films are now an extinct breed, with their closest derivitives today being the puerile Faces of Death series, which sully the name of the genre. Mondo films can also lay claim to spawning reality TV and the farces that accompany it, including the voyeuristic violence and sleaze of the likes of Cops. At worst, the mondo genre produced exploitative and more-than-a-little-bit-wrong films that lay somewhere in the cinematic gutter. However, many are held in extremely high esteem - Mondo Cane is now recognised as being one of Italy's finest pieces of cinema, and it is held in exceptionally high regard (not least for the fact that it is probably the only exploitation film ever to have come close to the Oscar stage). Often a subject of books and films (including a feature length documentary The Godfathers of Mondo, featuring interviews with Jacopetti and Prosperi, among others), the mondo film is undoubtedly the most notorious Eurotrash genre and they continue to polarise filmgoers today.
ubject matter. Franco Prosperi, one of the genre's creators, says in the documentary The Godfathers of Mondo that mondo films are 'anti-documentaries' that show a shocking and (supposedly) impartial view of the people and nations they film.The craze began in 1962, when Italian journalists Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi and Paulo Cavara unleased Mondo Cane. As one of the taglines to the film says, 'It enters a hundred incredible worlds where the camera has never gone before!' and the film is essentially a series of set-pieces displaying shocking world practises - cults, animal slaughter and cultural oddities. Mondo Cane was immensely shocking for its time (though doesn't quite hold up now) even though not all of the footage contained within was genuine. Regardless, the film was phenomenally successful - it won the David Di Donatello Best Production award (the Italian equivelent to the Best Picture Oscar); Jacopetti, Prosperi and Cavara were nominated for the prestigious Cannes Golden Palm and composers Riz Ortolani, Nino Oliviero and Norman Newell were nominated for an Oscar for Best Song, with the piece More. It was ranked third most successful film in 1963 in the US, after heavyweights Lawrence
of Arabia and The Birds. and made Jacopetti, Prosperi, Cavara and Ortolani stars in the Italian film world. A year later, the trio directed The Women of the World which, while it wasn't a mondo film as such, used many of the conventions employed in Mondo Cane. Jacopetti and Prosperi (without Cavara, and he would not return for any of their later films) directed an ill-received sequel to Mondo Cane that year.In 1966, Jacopetti and Prosperi (pictured left) directed their most intriguing film, Africa Addio. Translating to 'Goodbye Africa', Africa Addio chronicled the change between colonial rule to independence, and the subsequent fighting that arose. Africa Addio was hugely controversial - it's depiction of Congolese rebel conflict led one of Jacopetti and Prosperi's acquaintances on-set to return to Italy and accuse them of 'camera-action', where the mercenaries being filmed murdered captured rebels at Jacopetti's bequest. Jacopetti, cinematographer Antonio Climati and production manager Stanis Nievo were all charged with murder (thou
gh curiously Prosperi wasn't arrested), and they were forced to prove their innocence before an Italian court. Eventually they were acquitted, and the men narrowly avoided becoming international war criminals. This was not the first time Jacopetti had faced a courtroom - sordid rumours abounded about the filmmaker, and in the fifties he was charged with the statutory rape of a thirteen-year-old gypsy, whom he was forced to marry to avoid prison. Controversy still surrounded Africa Addio, and accusations that Jacopetti and Prosperi asked the mercenaries to postpone their invasion of a rebel town still aren't disproven. When it finally reached cinemas, whole cities rioted and a UN delegation met to review seemingly xenophobic content.By this time, a number of similar films began to be released in Italy. Secret Africa was directed in 1969 by Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni and Guido Guerrasio, and was considered a rip-off of Africa Addio in the sense that it displayed shocking footage of the continent's culture and people. Secret Africa had none of it's predecessor's intelligence and flair, and quickly faded into obscurity. The Castiglioni's directed a follow-up film in 1971 titled Africa Ama (Africa Uncensored). This was considered far better than Secret Africa, and the brothers refined their skills as filmmakers. 1971 also saw the release
of another Jacopetti and Prosperi documentary, though it was a completely inauthentic recreation - Addio Zio Tom (Goodbye Uncle Tom). Tom was a pseudo-documentary on the US slave trade of the 1800s, and employed a number of immensely graphic scenes. Tom was critically mauled, with notable reviewers such as Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert asserting it was an incitement of racial war. Tom was one of the last of Jacopetti and Prosperi's collaborations (before the sub-par Mondo Candido), and they had a fall-out regarding finances and techniques of that latter film. Mondo would never have the same raw, visceral power and quality as what the duo brought to the genre.There was, after Addio Zio Tom, a steady downward spiral for the mondo genre, however the fact that it became boring spawned one of its most famous derivitives - the Italo-cannibal gut muncher. The first film of this cycle was Man From Deep River (1972), and was directly inspired by the mondo film's shocking images and claims to authenticity. Mondo suffered a brief old-school revival in 1974 with Savage Man, Savage Beast. Whilst this film kept with the conventions of a mondo picture, it lacked the realism as many scenes were staged. The film was directed by Jacopetti and Prosperi cinematographer Antonio Climati (with Mario Morra co-directing), and the film was produced by Prosperi. It was the first in Climati's Savage trilogy, which, like Africa Addio and Africa Ama, focussed on the plights of the Dark Continent.
Mondo films are now an extinct breed, with their closest derivitives today being the puerile Faces of Death series, which sully the name of the genre. Mondo films can also lay claim to spawning reality TV and the farces that accompany it, including the voyeuristic violence and sleaze of the likes of Cops. At worst, the mondo genre produced exploitative and more-than-a-little-bit-wrong films that lay somewhere in the cinematic gutter. However, many are held in extremely high esteem - Mondo Cane is now recognised as being one of Italy's finest pieces of cinema, and it is held in exceptionally high regard (not least for the fact that it is probably the only exploitation film ever to have come close to the Oscar stage). Often a subject of books and films (including a feature length documentary The Godfathers of Mondo, featuring interviews with Jacopetti and Prosperi, among others), the mondo film is undoubtedly the most notorious Eurotrash genre and they continue to polarise filmgoers today.
THE FILMS
In Alphabetical Order
Mondo Cane (1962)
Directed by Paulo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi
Narrated by Stefano Sibaldi
Among Italy's most internationally successful films, Mondo Cane was the first mondo film to ever be released and made cult superstars out of Jacopetti, Prosperi and composer Riz Ortolani, who was co-nominated for an Oscar with the song More.
Mondo Cane 2 (1963)
Directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi
Far less of a success to the original, and the film that Jacopetti himself hated with a passion. More of a rip-off to the original than anything else.
Women of the World (1963)
Directed by Paulo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi
Directed by Paulo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi
Narrated by Peter Ustinov
A quickly-made follow up to Mondo Cane 2 follows, as its title suggests, the female culture of the world. One of the least-received films of the cycle.
I Malamondo (1964)
Directed by Paulo Cavara
Narrated by Marvin Miller
Cavara's first sole-effort away from the Jacopetti and Prosperi tripatarch. Looks over bizzare behaviour, but lacks the shock value of its successors.
Mondo Balordo (1964)
Directed by Roberto Bianchi Montero
Narrated by Boris Karloff
Translated in the US to A Fool's World, this immensely strange production narrated by horror great Boris Karloff displays the weird and perverse from across the globe.
Directed by Roberto Bianchi Montero
Narrated by Boris Karloff
Translated in the US to A Fool's World, this immensely strange production narrated by horror great Boris Karloff displays the weird and perverse from across the globe.
Africa Addio (1966)
Directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi
Narrated by Sergio Rossi
One of the most controversial films ever made, Africa Addio depicts its creators about to be executed by firing squad and, upon its release, made cities riot and almost brought a war crime conviction to Jacopetti. Beautifully made and thoroughly gripping to watch, this is the zenith of the mondo cycle and one of the finest pieces of cinema ever made.
Secret Africa (1969)
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni & Guido Guerrasio
Narrated by Riccardo Cucciolla
The debut of the Castiglioni Brothers whom, alongside Jacopetti/Prosperi and Climati/Morra, produced the most notable efforts into the mondo cycle. This picture was essentially a cash in on Africa Addio, however it showcased more shocking footage with only half the intelligence.
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni & Guido Guerrasio
Narrated by Riccardo Cucciolla
The debut of the Castiglioni Brothers whom, alongside Jacopetti/Prosperi and Climati/Morra, produced the most notable efforts into the mondo cycle. This picture was essentially a cash in on Africa Addio, however it showcased more shocking footage with only half the intelligence.
Addio Zio Tom (1971)
Directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi
Starring Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi
More of a 'mockumentary' than a mondo film, this historical picture on the African slave trade is one of the most morally bankrupt and disturbing movies ever made. Known in the West as Goodbye (or 'Farewell') Uncle Tom.
Africa Uncensored (1971)
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni & Guido Guerrasio
The Castiglioni Brothers and Guerrasio's second film in their series of five mondo pictures surrounding the rituals and culture of Africa.
Savage Man, Savage Beast (1974)
Directed by Antonio Climati & Mario Morra
Narrated by Alberto Moravia
One of the mondo cycle's more notorious films, though equally dubious in its claims to authenticity, Savage Man, Savage Beast marks Africa Addio's cinematographer Antonio Climati's directorial debut. Produced by Franco Prosperi, and banned in Australia in uncut form for thirty-three years.
Mondo Magic (1975)
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni & Guido Guerrasio
Narrated by Mac Mauro Smith
More of the notorious Castiglioni Brothers (and collaborator Guerrasio) in their quest to uncover the most shocking rituals of the world. By this time, they have outdone Jacopetti and Prosperi by way of grue, but certainly not intelligence and beauty.
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni & Guido Guerrasio
Narrated by Mac Mauro Smith
More of the notorious Castiglioni Brothers (and collaborator Guerrasio) in their quest to uncover the most shocking rituals of the world. By this time, they have outdone Jacopetti and Prosperi by way of grue, but certainly not intelligence and beauty.
This Violent World (1976)
Directed by Antonio Climati & Mario Morra
Violent and grisly, and almost entirely lacking the beauty and magnificence of the Jacopetti/Prosperi collaborations. Probably the last of the 'true' mondo films.
Violent and grisly, and almost entirely lacking the beauty and magnificence of the Jacopetti/Prosperi collaborations. Probably the last of the 'true' mondo films.
The Last Savage (1978)
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni & Angelo Castiglioni
Narrated by Riccardo Cucciolla
Another overly grisly Africa shockumentary by the Castiglioni Brothers.
Shocking Africa (1982)
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni & Angelo Castiglioni
The last film in the Castiglioni's mondo series. More of the same, but with more shocking (and presumably inauthentic) footage.
Directed by Alfredo Castiglioni & Angelo Castiglioni
The last film in the Castiglioni's mondo series. More of the same, but with more shocking (and presumably inauthentic) footage.
Sweet and Savage (1983)
Directed by Antonio Climati & Mario Morra
Narrated by Franco Prosperi
Almost entirely edited from Climati and Morra's earlier films Savage Man, Savage Beast and This Violent World. Considered by many as a shameless cash in.
Narrated by Franco Prosperi
Almost entirely edited from Climati and Morra's earlier films Savage Man, Savage Beast and This Violent World. Considered by many as a shameless cash in.
Mondo Cane 3 (1986)
Directed by Stelvio Massi
More Mondo Cane rip-off madness. Titled Mondo Cane Oggi in its native Italian, this lacks the authenticity and quality of the 1962 original, as many of the later mondos did.
The Godfathers of Mondo (2005)
Directed by David Gregory
Directed by David Gregory
Starring Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi, Riz Ortolani
A sensational documentary on the mondo cycle, specifically the films of Jacopetti and Prosperi (the best of the genre) and features candid interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.
A sensational documentary on the mondo cycle, specifically the films of Jacopetti and Prosperi (the best of the genre) and features candid interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.
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