Cesare deve morire (2012)

Inmates at a high-security prison in Rome prepare for a public performance of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."

Directors:

Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani

Writers:

William Shakespeare (play), Paolo Taviani (screenplay)

Stars:

Cosimo Rega, Salvatore Striano, Giovanni Arcuri

16 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Cosimo Rega	...	Cassio
Salvatore Striano	...	Bruto
Giovanni Arcuri	...	Cesare
Antonio Frasca	...	Marcantonio
Juan Dario Bonetti	...	Decio
Vincenzo Gallo	...	Lucio
Rosario Majorana	...	Metello
Francesco De Masi	...	Trebonio
Gennaro Solito	...	Cinna
Vittorio Parrella	...	Casca
Pasquale Crapetti	...	Legionary
Francesco Carusone	...	Fortune Teller
Fabio Rizzuto	...	Stratone
Fabio Cavalli	...	Theatre Director
Maurilio Giaffreda	...	Ottavio

Storyline

In Rebibbia Prison in Italy, its inmate theatre program puts on a well received production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The film goes back several months earlier as the coordinators announces the play as the program's production of the year. With that project set, we see its creation as the cast is auditioned and selected for this artistic challenge. As they rehearse, the prisoners, many of whom are long termers and lifers for serious crimes, find that the classic play has both a striking resonance and contrast to their confined lives.

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Plot Keywords:

shakespeare's julius caesar | prison | high security | mafioso | rome italy | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

2 March 2012 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Caesar Must Die

Filming Locations:

Rebibbia, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kaos Cinematografica, Stemal Entertainment, Le Talee

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani heard about the prisoners acting program and contacted Fabio Cavalli with the idea of doing Shakespeare's play and shot the whole experience.

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Quotes

Cassio: Ever since I discovered art, this cell has truly become a prison.
[subtitled version]

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Connections

Featured in Film '72: Episode dated 27 February 2013 (2013)

User Reviews

great acting

Six years on from The Lark Farm, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani found in stage productions of the Roman prison inmates Rebibbia energy and the urge to get back behind the camera and make a new film. They wrote and directed and produced within the Roman prison facility and with the same group of actors-prisoners.

Only apparently docudrama, but in reality almost entirely representation, Caesar must die tells the staging of "Julius Caesar" by Shakespeare, who are leaving very little overlap between the preparation of the play and the play itself, the express wish to amplify the most painful and intimate adhesion of the detainees to their characters and feelings they carry. The films of the Taviani can undoubtedly convey the strength and passion of surprising interpretations, and is able to find moments of clear staging with a charm that builds on the context, but transcends it. Unfortunately, however, is also weighed down by an idea of ​​cinema out of date and time.

The intensity of black and white "Giulio Cesare" acted within the walls of prison, goes limp, in fact, when the Taviani brothers - who, caught between themselves and Bertold Brecht were unwilling or able to give up the script, or embrace moments of pure documentation - they feel heavy and intrusive outside their hand. When they try to break the scene with a background, however artificial and, therefore, artificial. The illusion of reality sought by directors does not take off then ever, and breaks the suspension of disbelief achieved in staging Shakespeare. Worse still surrounds the operation with a sort of condescending paternalism that file the roughness, the personalities, the possibilities.

Why show "faking" two prisoners who bicker "really", another unable to take part in the tests because they tried to interview, one imagines the arrival of women in the theater or another that says, reciting, that "by when he met the art cell has become a real prison, "is frankly disturbing and morally objectionable, because it becomes another cage that imprisons artistic protagonists.