Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49275 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-03-14
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Colour, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Customer Reviews

An excellent interpretation of this influential legend.
Pasolini presents us with an accurate but personal interpretation of this Ancient Greek legend which has been widely used in the development of psychoanalysis in recent years. Oedipus is a tragic hero, destined from the outset to kill his own father and sleep with his mother. There is an overwhelming sense of Fate as the hero rushes towards the fulfillment of his destiny.

The setting of the North African desert and the use of hundreds of ordinary people as extras lends great authenticity to the film.

The dialogue and the use of written extracts from the legend also lend authenticity and authority.

There are moments of drama and tension along with the depth of psychological study of the main characters which we expect from Pasolini.

Great disappointment
Despite the inspiring North African setting this movie falls flat, primarily because the psychological profile of Oedipus is not sufficiently developed. Sophocles' original contains so many open questions (such as why Oedipus would want to kill Laius) which are not satisfactorily explained in this realist adaptation. Pasolini's attempt to turn Oedipus into a 'non-intellectual' (as the documentary explains) does not really work; this rôle requires ample explanation, especially in the passages where Oedipus and Jocasta speculate whether or not he is her son - and dismiss it. Here, the acting is simply too stiff and inexplicit to render the cinematic text meaningful.

I was going to show this film to a Grade 12 class, with the intention to discuss modern approaches to Sophocles' play, but I'd rather not give it a try. None of the sequences seem intriguing enough to justify showing this B-movie, not even in excerpts.