1900 (Novecento). Bernardo Bertolucci, 1976.
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Edition screened: Paramount 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD, released 2006. Italian language with original English dub. Runtime approximately 315 minutes.
Summary: Torture and murder of animals.
Details (Disc 1):
1) From 26:40 through 31:38 is a graphic, extended scene of living frogs being tortured. First we see Tommaso Sawyerini snatching frogs from a river bank and impaling each through the chest on a heavy wire, as though he were stringing beads. He proudly announces that he has 20, and we see the frogs writhing in agony. He then wraps the wire around his hat and proceeds to have a monkey-see-monkey-do game with his friend while the frogs convulse in pain and nostalgic Gosh, Don’t You Wish You Was a Kid Again? music plays in the background.
2) Beginning at 1:46:00 is a 1-minute sequence of sportsmen shooting Sitting Ducks. We see four or five ducks struggle on the river with broken necks and similar wounds before they die.
3) At 1:54:00 the Brown Shirts hold a meeting in a church. They have brought their hunting proceeds with them, and drape dead rabbits and fowl across the backs of the pews while they talk.
4) At 2:40:52 Donald Sutherland straps a cat to a wall. The cat is in extreme distress while Sutherland delivers a speech about destroying Communism. He then kills the cat in a very alarming way.
(Disc 2):
5) The obligatory pig slaughter happens 47:10 through 53:00. Real, no special effects, no merciful quick killing, just disemboweling. Of course they clown around with entrails, just like in every other movie.
6) Not really abuse, but weird: At 1:42:00 we get quite a detailed shot of a man massaging a horse’s anus to make it defecate into his hands. He then pelts Donald Sutherland with the steaming.
Even disregarding the extreme cruelty to animals and the complacent attitude about those cruelties, 1900’s five hour and fifteen minute commitment is not adequately rewarded. You could watch The Silence, Persona, and Shame, with a snack between each one in the same amount of time, and finish up saying, “What a fabulous evening,” instead of “Well, at least now I’ve seen De Niro and Depardieu naked at the same time.”
The inevitable pig slaughter scenes in these manly historical Italian movies manage to be boringly predictable, embarrassingly stupid, and shamefully cruel all at once.