Mondo candido is a 1975 black comedy
film directed by acclaimed Mondo directors Gualtiero
Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi. The film is a liberal
adaptation of Voltaire''s novel Candide.
Candido (Christopher Brown) is a naïve young man raised
by a Westphalian baron (Gianfranco D''Angelo). He is a
devoted disciple of his tutor Dr. Panglos (Jacques
Herlin) and a follower of his moral doctrines but cannot
hide his feelings for the Baron''s raunchy daughter
Cunegonda (Michelle Miller). However, after a sudden
invasion, Cunegonda disappears and Candido begins his
errant in search of her and true love. The events take
him to modern times and places like Israel where he
witnesses the ArabIsraeli conflict and New York City,
the living epitome of global capitalism.
During the
golden age of the grindhouse, Gualtiero Jacopetti and
Franco Prosperi were always gloriously pushing the
envelope of exploitation, with classics like MONDO CANE
and FAREWELL UNCLE TOM. Well, this is their most
outlandish cinematic confection -- a sexual-psychedelic
comic-variation on Voltaire''s CANDIDE, that transcends
time and logic. Basic coherency might be at a minimum,
but it''s never boring! Set in some nebulous medieval
time, Christopher Brown stars as Candido, a free spirit
who lives in a Baron''s fabulous castle and prances about
like Richard Simmons with a hamster up his ass. Taught
that this is "the best of all possible worlds,"
Candido''s gleeful routine is shattered when the Baron
spots him face down in his chaste daughter Cunegonda''s
crotch and banishes the lad from his castle.
Suddenly, poor Candido is thrust into a cruel (and often
anachronistic) land. He''s "recruited" into an army that
trains its soldiers to use their bare heads as battering
rams, only to be slaughtered by modern troops with
machine guns and flame throwers. He''s later captured by
the Inquisition, which turns into a tapestry of masked
muscle-bound torturers, naked women led into a giant
meat grinder, electric guitars, and a black dude being
lynched by the KKK. It''s like Ken Russell''s THE DEVILS
meets LAUGH-IN. Meanwhile, Candido pines for sweet
Cunegonda, never realizing that she''s now a happy slut
who keeps four men satisfied, after she was captured by
"demons" on motorcycles! Yow! During its most clearly
insane moment, Candido boards a ship to the New World
(along with Marilyn Monroe and Al Capone?), and ends up
in modern-day Manhattan! On the streets of NYC he meets
his old mentor Pangloss, who''s now directing TV
commercials, while Cunegonda makes headlines with her
orgasmic concerts. Eventually, he even heads to Ireland
and Jerusalem -- as once-naive Candido finally sees this
shitty world for what it really is... Never prone to
subtlety, the directors fill every frame with surreal
twists, slapstick, sexuality, and repellent images. It''s
certainly not a happy, upbeat narrative, but they
overflow it with dazzling sequences, plus a
carnival-on-peyote atmosphere. The production is also
surprisingly sumptuous, with excessive costumes, sets
and props, dizzying photography by Giuseppe Ruzzolini
(TEORAMA, BURN!), and a wild score by Riz Ortolani. A
jaw-dropping tapestry of politics, bloodshed, fantasy,
desire, death, and the human condition, it''s an
impossible-to-categorize, absurdist masterpiece from the
demented genius of Jacopetti and Prosperi.
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