The film follows two stories that alternate without an obvious connection. The first is set around 1500 on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily. A young man roams a volcanic landscape, feeding on insects and small animals while avoiding soldiers, until he develops a taste for human flesh and gathers companions for his wanderings. The second takes place in 1967 at a villa in Godesberg, Germany, where Julian, the son of an industrialist, lives a listless life, neglects his politically committed fiancée Ida, and keeps a secret that unsettles his family. Both threads examine how parents shape their children and the different forms of rebellion or apathy those children adopt.

How it was made

Pasolini wrote the screenplay with Sergio Citti, who is also credited as co-director, and the film was produced by Gian Vittorio Baldi in an Italian-French co-production. The cast includes Jean-Pierre Léaud, Ugo Tognazzi, Marco Ferreri, Pierre Clémenti, Alberto Lionello and Anne Wiazemsky, along with Franco Citti and Ninetto Davoli, both regular collaborators of the director. Cinematography is credited to several operators, among them Tonino Delli Colli, and the editing to Nino Baragli. The score is by Benedetto Ghiglia. The result blends a fable-like tone with an allegory on fascism, consumerism and postwar European moral decay, deliberately contrasting Bonn's Germany with Hitler's.

Reception and legacy

The film is remembered as one of Pasolini's most provocative works, admired for its allegory on fascism, consumerism and resistance. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 60% approval rating, with an average score of 5.7 out of 10 from ten critics. Its place in the director's legacy was reinforced by Criterion's home video release, which included it in a nine-disc Pasolini box set marking what would have been his 101st birthday.