The Martyrdom of Pasolini

There are some ideas that haunt all of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s work, both the journalistic part and the artistic one. Although a declared homosexual and an atheist, he appraised traditional religious and family values, especially when it came to rural life and village inhabitants. Even his involvement in the communist party can be explained by his enormous love for the simple people. He assumed that they were the only ones capable of true feelings. They were not perverted by the "hedonistic" and fake new ideas of the consumer society.

Pasolini felt a deep nostalgia and care for the naivety of the old world, for the people and their problems, their authentic emotions. In the cities, on the other hand, all differences seemed to disappear. All classes gravitated towards one, big, uniform body, the bourgeoisie. According to Pasolini this caused poor people to lose their freedom and dignity. They became frustrated trying to gain the middle-class financial status and its sober, respectable look.

A straight look

All of this is illustrated in his filmmaking. The very dramatic Oedipus Rex and Medea or the playful Trilogy of Life (which includes The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights) all show instinct-based characters, extremely sensual and voluptuous in their passion and not trying to hide or suppress their sentiments. Pasolini often films them in close-ups in which they stare directly into the camera, revealing themselves to the viewer. Their faces are often peculiar or downright ugly because the director appreciates imperfection as a sign of individuality and distinction.

Similarly, the way Pasolini looks through the camera is a voyeur’s one. It is as if he wants to absorb all those faces, objects and landscapes. He gazes without saying anything precise about them. Pasolini observes with a high degree of sensitivity, thus returning the people’s aura of mystery, something that can’t be rationally understood, only felt.

Talking about his times, Pasolini becomes sober and pessimistic. Mostly he seems to miss the loss of faith, replaced by the need to explain everything, without any sense for the sacred. For his movies which take place in the 20th century he even feels the need to obscure the subject, to put it in an allegorical form. Though, behind his socio-political statements and imputation, there is a very humanistic conscience. No matter how the world will look like in future and how political ideas change, the films of Pasolini will remain valuable and beautiful for they express the author’s true love for people, with their simple yet profound passions and joys.

Gabriela Filippi