Ruggero Deodato's Cut and Run (1985) is about same themes as his masterpiece Cannibal Holocaust (1979). Both these films criticize the way how media exploits and capitalizes on things that are necessarily not suitable for that. They also (thus) tell about human nature in general and our greedy and selfish sides that can be seen everyday worldwide.
In Cut and Run, an American TV reporter and her cameraman travel to the deep jungles to search for the lost son of her boss as well as try to find some clues of a bloody drug war that has taken place during the last few months. They arrive there and learn that the gory hell is on the loose in the jungle, too, and that there's much more than they ever could have imagined. There are two versions of this film. The stronger and much more violent to the Italian market, and the "softer" version to elsewhere. I've seen the both, and all I can say is that the softer is much more noteworthy as a serious piece of work. The hard version serves only as exploitation, and very strong exploitation indeed.
The themes of the film are universal as everywhere televison, internet and other forms of media show other people's suffering and pain as some kind of entertainment and amusement as it excites people, their deepest instincts. Cannibal Holocaust is easily among the most memorable depiction of this in the history of cinema. Cut and Run is more about media while Holocaust was also about the whole human nature and our faces, thus making the film even more global and powerful. Cut and Run shows some interesting expressions on faces at the end, and the characters definitely have learnt something, so again Deodato and his screenwriter (Dardano Sacchetti, the Fulci writer) had serious things in their minds while their producers were obviously more interested in exploitation and graphic violence.
The violence is strong in both versions, but the harder version is very strong. The beginning massacre makes it obvious that none of the gushing close ups have any other reason than themselves, which is not good if we want to do serious film with message. More is coming as the carnage at the jungle includes various nasty traps and ways of killing a human being. The soft version is much tamer than this, and that is also its greatest improvement.
The film has some very nice camerawork in the jungle, and especially the soundtrack by the great Claudio Simonetti of the Goblin is mind blowing and effective. It has its jungle themes and urban themes and they all work as fine as in their greatest Argento achievements.
Cut and Run has some stupid reactions by its characters and also minor flaws and weak points in the screenplay and it can occasionally look unintentionally comical or irritating. Still it is among Deodato's best works and delivers its message with impact even though the film (both versions) is in every possible way much tamer and harmless than his one and only masterpiece. 7/10
In Cut and Run, an American TV reporter and her cameraman travel to the deep jungles to search for the lost son of her boss as well as try to find some clues of a bloody drug war that has taken place during the last few months. They arrive there and learn that the gory hell is on the loose in the jungle, too, and that there's much more than they ever could have imagined. There are two versions of this film. The stronger and much more violent to the Italian market, and the "softer" version to elsewhere. I've seen the both, and all I can say is that the softer is much more noteworthy as a serious piece of work. The hard version serves only as exploitation, and very strong exploitation indeed.
The themes of the film are universal as everywhere televison, internet and other forms of media show other people's suffering and pain as some kind of entertainment and amusement as it excites people, their deepest instincts. Cannibal Holocaust is easily among the most memorable depiction of this in the history of cinema. Cut and Run is more about media while Holocaust was also about the whole human nature and our faces, thus making the film even more global and powerful. Cut and Run shows some interesting expressions on faces at the end, and the characters definitely have learnt something, so again Deodato and his screenwriter (Dardano Sacchetti, the Fulci writer) had serious things in their minds while their producers were obviously more interested in exploitation and graphic violence.
The violence is strong in both versions, but the harder version is very strong. The beginning massacre makes it obvious that none of the gushing close ups have any other reason than themselves, which is not good if we want to do serious film with message. More is coming as the carnage at the jungle includes various nasty traps and ways of killing a human being. The soft version is much tamer than this, and that is also its greatest improvement.
The film has some very nice camerawork in the jungle, and especially the soundtrack by the great Claudio Simonetti of the Goblin is mind blowing and effective. It has its jungle themes and urban themes and they all work as fine as in their greatest Argento achievements.
Cut and Run has some stupid reactions by its characters and also minor flaws and weak points in the screenplay and it can occasionally look unintentionally comical or irritating. Still it is among Deodato's best works and delivers its message with impact even though the film (both versions) is in every possible way much tamer and harmless than his one and only masterpiece. 7/10