Tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini
Film Festival
Uccellacci e uccellini (1966)
(The Hawks and the Sparrows)
direction Pier Paolo Pasolini
in collaboration with Rocca Cinema
The doorbell rings at Totò’s—the prince of comedy, and a monarchist, traditionalist, Catholic. It’s Pasolini in the company of a young man. The director in a nice suit and tie; a sixteen-year-old Ninetto Davoli wearing jeans. As soon as the guests leave, Totò, the landlord, disinfects the armchair were Ninetto had sat, and complains: no tails are required, but at least the jeans must be freshly laundered!
What sounds like a gag, indeed, narrates of the incredible encounter without which the whimsical fantasy of Uccellacci e uccellini would not exist—a fable where the extravagant, deeply human mask of Totò and the irreverence of Davoli become the anti-heroes of a picaresque journey in the collapse of ideology. And if Ennio Morricone signed the soundtrack, it was Domenico Modugno who, in a rare occurrence, sang the opening and closing credits.
