Pasolini directs Italian screen legend Totò in picaresque road movie The Hawks and the Sparrows. A father wanders the countryside by foot with his son and a talking crow in tow. As the bird inquires with the hapless duo about politics and regales them with a Franciscan parable, the father and son grow steadily hungrier. An anarchic comedy that revels in the surrealism of the modern world and cinema itself, The Hawks and the Sparrows is a madcap delight from its sung opening credits to its Chaplin-esque, silhouetted finale.

Unavailable in the United States for almost twenty years, Oedipus Rex, Pasolini’s adaptation of the ancient Greek drama about a prince who kills his father, weds his mother, and blinds himself, is an earthy art cinema epic. Bookended by striking sequences in modern Italy, the film’s central tragedy, set against the stunning landscapes and architecture of northern Morocco, boasts striking costumes and a ferocious lead performance by Franco Citti (Accattone). 

The Hawks and the Sparrows 
Director:  Pier Paolo Pasolini. Cast: Totò, Ninetto Davoli, Femi Benussi, Alfredo Leggi. 1966. 86 min. Italy. B&W. Italian. 35mm. Print from Cinecittà. 

Oedipus Rex  
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Cast: Silvana Mangano, Franco Citti, Alida Valli, Carmelo Bene. 1967. 104 min. Italy/Morocco. Color. Italian, Romanian. 35mm. Print from Cinecittà. 

All film screenings of Carnal Knowledge: The Films of Pier Paolo Pasolini are available here.