Oedipus Rex

Year:  1967

Director:  Pier Paolo Pasolini

Screenplay:  Pier Paolo Pasolini, based on the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Starring:  Franco Citti, Silvano Mangano, Alida Valli, Julian Beck, Carmelo Bene, Ninetto Davoli, Luciano Bartoli, Ahmed Belhachmi

Running Time:  104 minutes

Genre:  Drama

As a baby, Oedipus (Citti) is abandoned on a mountain slope, but is rescued and raised by King Polybus (Belchami) and Queen Merope (Valli) of Corinth.  Now an adult, Oedipus suffers strange nightmares and leaves home to visit the Oracle at Delphi to learn what the dreams mean.  However the Oracle tells him that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother.  Horrified, and unaware that Polybus and Merope are not his biological parents, Oedipus decides not to return to Corinth.  However, as much as he tries to avoid the prophecy, he can't cheat his fate.

Oedipus Rex is one of the most famous of the Ancient Greek tragedies, with it's portrayal of a man who as he tries to avoid his fate, inadvertently brings it about, and brings tragedy down on himself and everyone around him.  Pier Paolo Pasolini gives the classic tragedy his own unique spin.  Bookended by sequences set in 1920s, in which a child is born to a wealthy woman and an Army Officer who resents him, and 1960s Bologna, in which blind Oedipus wanders the bustling streets playing his flute.  The rest of the film was shot in Morocco, with the cities made up of 15th Century buildings, and a mixture of African, Aztec and European style in the props and costumes, with the score made up of Romanian, Japanese and Indonesian folk music.  It depicts a world that is familiar and yet very much it's own.  Pasolini added autobiographical elements, stating that he was the child in the prologue, his father was. military officer and his mother was a teacher.  As with a lot of Pasolini's "historical" films, the loose, handheld camera work, and use of non-professional and often very unconventional looking performers, makes the film look like a strange documentary from another world.  Franco Citti gives a powerful performance in the lead role, and the film, while being quite a demanding watch, has a unique power if it's own.

Franco Citti in Oedipus Rex