Mondo Magic (1975) User Reviews

A Glimpse into the last remnants of the past before exploitation by a "civilized society"

[dodgyemail667 · 6/10 · 7 October 2012]

From a ethnographic perspective, these "staged" performances are rare glimpse into tribal customs that were, in essence, an adaptation to the land. Hunter gatherer societies around the world, have been "practicing" their lifestyles for over 40 000 years.

I viewed the 93min Italian dialog version, and I do not speak the language so relied on the "archival footage" to tell the story. I will leave it to the viewer to discern between the real and "fake" footage.

The anthropologist/documenter, is still the "guest" amongst these tribes, and as such, has the rights, roles and responsibilities of an uninitiated child. And are only shown the everyday world of these people and not their secret sacred lifestyle.

The "perfect circumcision" is a result of practices that surpass the written record. eg Aborigines in the desert regions of Australia practice circumcision and subincision.

I think you will find these tribes in Africa are no longer living there traditionally. (I hope I am wrong!) What was their land, has too much gold, diamonds, and those rare elements that are needed for mobile technology, and as such, has been taken over by governments and corporations.

Some might say exploitation I say culturally significant

Definitely interesting

[sick_boy420xxx · 12 June 2001]

This is one of the better of the "mondo" flicks to be produced. The film deals mainly with African tribal magic, and life in general, but also shows a lot of interesting sights the world over. Emphasis here is on graphic and violent footage, and sex, as there is quite a bit of fairly graphic footage, although overall, it does not seem to truly exploit this footage, it merely shows a world quite different from the one that "civilized" man lives in. In doing this, the film creates much more of an impact, and is quite an interesting and sometimes educational film for viewers who can handle it.

Shocking documentary exploring native customs, with the emphasis on sex and violence

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 29 August 2016]

A typically exploitative '70s shockumentary, made by those darned Italians who apparently cornered the market during the decade by making sick variants on MONDO CANE. These films were designed to gross out and disgust the viewer whilst hiding behind the "safe" genre of the documentary, allowing the film-makers to fill their movies with more sex and violence than is usually witnessed in similar US or British productions. MONDO MAGIC is a particularly strong and graphic example of the genre, focusing almost totally on native and primitive life in Africa and South America.

Viewers bear witness to such pleasant sights as decapitated chickens being used for divination, healers urinating on the ill as a method of healing, and that old favourite, the breast-feeding of puppies. In central America we see children having parts of their mouths removed and their skin mutilated due to age-old customs. Elsewhere in the Philippines there are some genuinely impressive and inexplicable examples of "psychic" healing in process, where a healer pulls foreign bodies from the sick and ill and leaves no wound, despite copious amounts of bloodshed. In South America, jungle natives cook large poisonous spiders for their Sunday lunch and eat the bones of old witch doctors to protect their tribe.

Over in Africa, children shower liberally in cow pee and witch doctors are left to rot back into the earth after death. Cow dung is used as an insect repellent and in a particularly repulsive interlude, we see an elephant being used as a pincushion as the natives spear it to death. Listening to the screams of pain and watching the blood stream from this proud and giant creature is a test for any emotional or squeamish viewer and to make matters worse, this moment seems to go on forever as the elephant refuses to die. Elsewhere we have a man suffering from a "genital disturbance" being treated by herbs (am I the only one who found this hilarious?) and a possessed child having his genitals wrenched from his body by a rope. The focus of the film seems to be on naked native tribe members going about their business, all loosely linked into some magical element.

At around the hour mark, the film seems to lose focus and instead concentrates on the usual round of gyrating native dances, guys lying around on beds of nails, and sex rather than violence. Don't think that for one moment the sight of two sweaty and naked natives fondling each other is titillating though, as this footage is perhaps even more gruesome than the earlier violence that the film offered up. I don't know which is worse. The repulsive barbarity of the first half of the film, or the poorly-shot out-of-focus dullness of the second. I enjoyed the cool familiar song they keep repeating through the film though, it definitely adds a sense of class to some of the scenes they don't really deserve to have. I don't know how much of this film was faked or whatnot, but at the end of the day it's a run-of-the-mill addition to this in-your-face sub-genre.

Repulsive

[HSauer · 2/10 · 27 May 2005]

MONDO MAGIC will make you lose your lunch. After spending considerable time with a filthy African tribe, the "producers" cross the water to find another equally filthy South American tribe. Animals are slaughtered, prepared and eaten by hand; bodily fluids and excreta are glorified and liberally distributed across the screen; nearly everybody is naked, nearly all the time.

The narrator says this is all tied in with "magic," but MONDO MAGIC is hardly a serious study of primitive magic or religion. It's more like a montage of disgusting scenes that are probably 100% authentic. (Circumcised African tribesmen don't shock me since the rite is ancient and originated in Africa, whence came the Israelites).

The Intermedia DVD version I saw this evening was "re-edited," and clocks in at 84 minutes -- the "sex magic" seems to have been cut from the film. Crude anatomy lessons are plentiful, however.

You have to believe we are magic...

[moycon · 8/10 · 26 September 2013]

This is an odd film. I originally had it in a Clamshell VHS tape format. The cover had a big cartoon eyeball and some other strange graphics like a man being hung by hooks. Wasn't sure what to expect. I think I was expecting more modern settings.

What you get in mostly primitive people and their use of "magic", which basically involves running around naked, animal slaughter, hurting each other, pee bathing, and suckling puppies, but mainly slaughtering animals.

It's actually a pretty interesting film. It's probably gross to people who are used to fast food, fast cars, and mortgage payments. A lot of the scenes in this film to me just seemed to be documentation of primitive people around the world and their day to day practices that seem gross to us because they are so different. It's hard to believe people lived like what was shown even in 1975. Some of the footage could very well have been from decades earlier than that.

If nothing else the flick serves as a time capsule of primitive people, with some goofy newer scene of things like psychic surgery throw in for good measure. I liked it. I've seen it 4 or 5 times over the years. It never fails to astound! It is how you say, Mucho Mondo!

Nasty!

[haildevilman · 3/10 · 8 November 2005]

Had trouble watching this one. The obsession with bodily fluids went more than just a tad overboard. Although I personally am a fan of Mondo films, this one didn't make the "I wanna see it again" list. Supposedly, it also offended the unoffendable (Is that a word? It's my word now.) John Waters.

Since it came out in 1975 after the first Mondo wave, I get the impression the producers were just piling on the grossness. I won't go into detail here, (Some of you may be eating.) But some of those first scenes almost made ME puke. And I'm a card carrying fan of the Italian Cannibal-Zombie films. It had some decent cinematography. That's the one compliment I'll give it.

Pushes the envelope in grotesque

[MikeK-7 · 3/10 · 2 January 2003]

I must say I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I hoped I would. It was more on the voodoo and ritualistic side than any film by the makers of the "CANE" movies, but its candidness did appeal to me. However about an hour into it I lost interest and didn't finish the rest of it. Another thing is that it felt too fake, sometimes it was too obvious. But if you would like something to spark the imagination and have too much time on your hands, you'll like it.

Yet another one

[lor_ · 13 February 2023]

My review was written in October 1984 after a screening at Liberty theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Shocking Cannibals" is an Italian shockumentary made in 1974 under the more accurate title "Naked Magic", currently imported as a gross-out exploitation film. Despite the prestigious names of producer Alberto Grimaldi (whose PEA banner coproduced) and high-minded narration written by novelist Alberto Moravia, film is a relentlessly sensationalist look at primitive peoples that is very difficult to endure, even for the hardened 42nd Street grindhouse devotees.

The only cannibals here, and that's really stretching it, are an Indian tribe living on the Amazon river who pulverize the bones of their dead tribesmen and mix the dust with a banana mash for an annual ritualistic drink, meant to allow the dead folks' souls to go free into the next world.

Cheap thrills-seekers have plenty of non-cannibalistic activities to observe, ranging from primitive survival activities of African tribesmen living around the White Nile river, Ethiopian medical and metaphysical (exorcism) rituals, and that old standby, the Filipino healer who perform magical operations on camera, removing cysts, tumors and leftover props from "The Exorcist" out of people's bellies without leaving any sign of an incision.

Moravia's text intones against the evils of civilized man despoiling the primitives' world, but what we watch is an extremely narrow view of their existence, namely the rituals and both food-seeking and sacrificial slaughter of animals. This is sheer exploitation, and he inclusion of nearly hardcore sex scenes on camera further ensures the picture an X rating, though the dozen or so fictional and docu-style brutality films (mostly Italian-made) currently floating around Stateside are not usually submitted to he MPAA's rating board.