Appunti per un'Orestiade africana (1970)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writer:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (written by)

Release Date:

29 November 1975 (Italy)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

The director presents takes and scenes filmed on location in Africa for a film-that-never-was, a black Oresteia. |

Plot Keywords:

Africa | Film Making | Jazz | Greek Mythology | Filmmaking

Cast

Gato Barbieri	...	Himself - Musician: saxophone
Donald F. Moye	...	Himself - Musican: drums
Marcello Melio	...	Himself - Musician: contrabasse
Yvonne Murray	...	Herself - singer
Archie Savage	...	Himself - Singer

Also Known As:

Notes Towards an African Orestes (International: English title)
Notes for an African Orestes

Runtime:

Italy:65 min | West Germany:71 min (TV)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Africa

Company:

I Film Dell'Orso

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Testament (1988)

Alternately fascinating and dull

It's always a little trying when pretentious film intellectuals make something like "Notes For an African Orestes." The film is about a film that was never made, Pasolini's retelling the Greek legend of Orestes in modern continental Africa. Basically, it's a film composed of beautiful black and white images with an American narrator (representative of Pasolini) narrating over about how the images will fit into his film. It's not a documentary or a feature film, the narrator states in the beginning, merely notes. He films a man and says "perhaps this will be Orestes." A woman: "perhaps this will be my Electra." It really is an odd little intellectual exercise and the viewer pretty much has to imagine what the film will look like himself based on Pasolini's sketches - that is, presuming that the viewer cares at all. If you're a Pasolini fan this would likely appeal more to you. It's a film of many ideas, the work of a real visionary, but whether or not you're willing to go along for the ride is the only real way to determine whether "Notes For an African Orestes" is genius or c**p.

Personally, I found it to be a little of both.