The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966)

Innocenti Totò and his son Innocenti Ninetto are drifting on a road in Italy, when they meet a Marxist speaking crow. The trio travels together in a long journey as their hunger increases.

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writers:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (story), Pier Paolo Pasolini (screenplay)

Stars:

Totò, Ninetto Davoli, Femi Benussi

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Totò	...	Innocenti Totò / Brother Cicillo
Ninetto Davoli	...	Innocenti Ninetto / Brother Ninetto (as Davoli Ninetto)
Femi Benussi	...	Luna
Umberto Bevilacqua	...	Incensurato
Renato Capogna	...	Scoundrels Leader
Alfredo Leggi
Pietro Davoli	...	Scoundrel
Renato Montalbano
Rosina Moroni	...	Poor Cottage Owner
Flaminia Siciliano	...	Scoundrel
Lena Lin Solaro	...	Urganda
Gabriele Baldini	...	Dante's Dentist
Giovanni Tarallo	...	Starving Peasant
Ricardo Redi	...	Mansion Owner
Vittorio Vittori	...	Ciro Lococo

Storyline

This richly symbolic film is really impossible to understand without some knowledge of 20th Century Italian history, and particularly the power of the Roman Catholic Church. The Lateran Treaty of 1929 finally politically separated Italy from Church power by creating the Vatican as a sovereign state. But the trade off was the that the Church was still left in power over many aspects of everyday Italian life. For instance, Italy finally established a civilian divorce law through a bitterly contested 1970 referendum. Before then, divorce was under strictly in the domain of Church law, and the Church NEVER granted a divorce, even in extreme cases like when a spouse was abandoned many years hence. Overall, however, the power of the Church still resided in the blind allegiance of Italians at all levels to Church morality. Over decades, this led to impeding Italy's social and political progress, and greatly maintained the status quo in the division between the privileged upper class and the ...

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Plot Keywords:

crow | hawk | sparrow | italy | class struggle | 

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Taglines:

The surprise comedy hit of the New York Film Festival

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

10 December 1969 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

The Hawks and the Sparrows

Filming Locations:

Assisi, Perugia, Umbria, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arco Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film's opening credits are not only displayed on screen but also comically sung in Italian to a jaunty Ennio Morricone score, with a memorably droll rhyming of the film title with the director's full name.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are performed as a song.

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Connections

Referenced in Wie de Waarheid Zegt Moet Dood (1981)

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Soundtracks

Uccellacci E Uccellini - strum
Composed by Ennio Morricone

User Reviews

This films means the crisis of racionalism ideas

This is a very good film, I think it's one of the best pasolini movies. It has three diferent parts, and there are lots of hidden things that have an important message. For example, in the beginning there are indications about how distant is Istanbul, or Cuba, and this is a message that the third world is distant, but not so much. The bird that goes with Totó and Ninneto Davoli (they act is excellent) means the racionalism, and they finaly eat it. But the most important thing is that is very funny, specially the part that explains how the two principal carachters have to convince all the birds that there's god and there's a need of peace.