Audience Member
This film is I guess significant for being one of the first epic films ever released.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
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Audience Member
I find it tragic, enthralling, and mysterious that one of the most innovative films in the history of cinema is also one of the least known. In many ways, it was so far ahead of it's time, and so evolved in terms of the grand vision the film possessed. Simply put, every Epic film in the pantheon of cinematic history owes something to Cabiria. An appropriate and well-deserved nickname for this film would have to be the Godfather of Epics.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
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Audience Member
Giovanni Pastrone's grand-scale storytelling of a lost princess, her journey from being kidnapped to almost being offered as a child sacrifice and then ending up as a slave, 'Cabiria' is cinema's first true epic. Pastrone made several films, and the scope and spectacle of his films inspired directors like Griffith and Fellini, but 'Cabiria' is the only one which has stood the test of time. And since the story is set almost 2000 years ago, the aged quality of this 100-year-old film only adds to the feel of the time.
Like Griffith's 'Birth of a Nation', 'Cabiria' too was shrouded in controversy for its biased depiction of races, places and cultures. Like 'Birth of a Nation' propagated Ku Klux Klan's nobility and agenda, 'Cabiria' tried to legitimize Italy's distant past, and tried to promote and inspire themes like 'wars of conquest', Roman salute, racial nobility and virtue, etc. I mean, all the non-Roman characters in the film are depicted in negative light.
Whatever the controversial history the movie might have, if one is ready to ignore those aspects and try to acknowledge the feat it tries to achieve in the medium of filmmaking, it's an enjoyable journey. The movie offers many fascinating sequences, like, the child offerings at Temple of Moloch, Princess Sophonisba's pet leopard and even her spectacular arrival for her almost wedding, soldiers and elephants crossing the Alps, the pyramid formed by soldiers and shields in one continuous shot, and few others.
The original version is said to have been three hours long. I saw the truncated 1993 restoration, which is two hours long. In this itself, the number of characters and events seem too many, a few of them almost unnecessary; I wonder what the extra 60 minutes had in store. Better editing (I mean, even shorter than two hours) could have made the story tighter, more interesting and compelling.
Overall, it's an interesting story and a well-made film, and personally, I liked it much more than the overrated 'Ben-Hur'.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/29/23
Full Review
walter m
After the eruption of Mt. Etna, survivors/looters finds themselves lucky to find an abandoned boat after their escape. And then unlucky, once Phoenician Pirates return and kill most of them. Croessa(Gina Marangoni) and Cabiria(Carolina Catena) are taken to Carthage where Cabiria is set to be sacrificed to their gods. Croessa goes off in search of Axilla(Umberto Mozzato) and his slave Maciste(Bartolomeo Pagano), who she recognizes as being Romans living undercover there, in order to get their help. Meanwhile, Hannibal(Emilio Vardannes) is off on a skiing vacation in the Alps.
"Cabiria" is a suitably epic movie done on a grand scale. Like many other early silent movies, the pace if very fast. So much so, that the movie tries to squeeze the entire Punic Wars into a two hour running time.(By comparison, I was going to bring up "Game of Thrones" but in this case I almost think it could sort of work, especially if you cut out all the scenes in brothels.) A bigger problem lies in the film's lack of focus, as not only does it forget the title character for long stretches, but so to do the other characters who are supposedly looking for her.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
This was a confusing, yet highly important, one to watch. I have to say that I haven't watched a silent film in a long time so adjusting to the many, many differences was a struggle. I found the captions to be really lacking in clarity. I appreciate the beauty of their writing but I'm not really trying to decode poetry when watching a silent epic, you know? It's not even that, really, it was the constant introduction of new names without describing who they were or what the hell their problem was. I was under the impression that the captions would describe what was about to happen, but really they just introduced it, which meant that I understood a bit of what was happening before their mouths kept moving and their arms started flailing and fights started happening and I was lost again. I definitely wish I had a historian in my room just quietly explaining where these ancient cities were and why everyone was so upset all the time. I could Google it while watching but I have a strict rule against touching my phone while a movie is on. Try to read up on the context surrounding the story before watching if you can.
Anyway, the sets were grand even by today's standards and that impressed me a lot. Even the special effects they utilized were outstanding, because at that time in cinema, they weren't special effects as much as they were visual tricks that the filmmakers had to figure out and pioneer on their own essentially. I really liked the Maciste character and I wasn't surprised to find that he was extremely popular when this movie came out, too. The naked children everywhere and live birds flying around a set that is actively crumbling and in flames was bananas! It made me wonder how many people/animals died on sets back before there were regulations. The story had many complexities to it and that was cool. It definitely deserves it's title as an epic. It is not an easy watch, but it is a worthwhile one. No doubt it was piloted by a strong plot. I agree with the many others who have said that this is a must-see for people who truly love film. I definitely recommend it and am happy to have it in my movie collection.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
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Audience Member
40% rating...........
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
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