Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) Dir. Francesco Rosi

I've recently studied Italian cinema at University. 

We watched several films with an eco-cinema gaze on the films.We watched some amazing films and I have to say it was one of my favourite courses that I did, except for the last essay (I struggled with that). The films that I watched are The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte) Director: Michelangelo Frammartino,The Consquences of Love (Le Conseguenze dell'amore) Director Paolo Sorrentino, The Wonders (Le maraviglie) Director: Alice Rohrwacher, The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) Director Paolo Sorrentino , Basilcata Coast to Coast - Director Rocco Papaleo, I am Love (Lo soon L'amore) Director: Luca Guadagnino and Gemorrah (Gomorro) Director:Matteo Garron. And I loved each and every one. One of the films led me to a film that I hadn't watched.

Basilicata Coast to Coast is a road trip comedy about a group of musicians and a journalist that travel by foot from one side of the region of Basilicata, Italy, to the other.  It was a nice film, with lovely scenery. But there is one scene where they travel to a village called Craco.  Craco was one of the villages that were devasted in the November 1980 earthquake in the south of Italy.  But, Craco had for a number of decades been a dying village.  

In the late 19th century and into the 1920 and 1930s many people left the village to make a life elsewhere, such as in the USA. Then in 1963, some work was being done to improve the sewers in the village and a major landslide caused some houses to collapse and fall down the hill.  From then onwards smaller landslides would cause further damage to the village. By 1979 when Francesco Rosi arrived to film Christ Stopped At Eboli many of the villagers had already moved out. And in 1980 after the earthquake, they would all be forced to leave.

Craco fascinates me, I've spent a lot of time watching youtube videos of people exploring the now-closed-off village (I believe you are only meant to tour with a guided tour).  Reading about it and also learning so much about the estimated 6000 villages in mostly southern Italy that are now deserted. 

So back to the film, Christ Stopped in Eboli. I purchased my copy of the Criterion Collection release from a local DVD and Record store.  I knew that many of the scenes in the film were filmed in Craco along with some neighbouring villages which drew me to the film, to begin with.  I had seen videos of Craco today and wanted to see it as it once was, with people with houses.  There are some videos throughout the years on youtube, but many are blurry and very hard to make out.  So films that were actually filmed there were my best chance of seeing Craco as it once was.  So I started with this one. there are more. 

I watched all 220 minutes over two sittings, and I really could just watch it again.  There is a real beauty in this movie that is rare to see in any film. This is a slow film, they spend nearly 20 minutes just showing the journey to the village called Gagliano in the film. This has two purposes it gives the viewer a sense of how remote the village is as we watch the journey first on a train, then onto another train, but this one is more rustic.  Next a bus, and lastly a journey in the only car in the village. (When you see the village you will see why a car may not really be needed).  But it also gives the viewer a chance to watch the change from lush green fertile fields to almost a rocky moonscape landscape. Straight away you know this is a land that is unforgiving.  

Not all of the scenes were filmed in Craco I would be hard-pressed to know if say the above scene was filmed in Craco, but there are scenes that certainly were and you can still see some of these areas today 

The film is based on the book by Carlo Levi, who was exiled to a town called Ailano in Southern Italy during the 1930s because his political views didn't match the fascist governments of the time. It seems that the government thought he could no harm, but Levi came away from his short time in the area with a fire in his belly.  He has seen how the people of the south had been forgotten about by the government in Rome and people in the more wealthy north of the country.  Levi would go to jail for his beliefs, but eventually would run for and win a seat in parliament.  

I cannot more highly recommend this film all 220 minutes of it.  It doesn't glorify the people of the area, they are not all nice people.  They have some strange customs and beliefs that Levi finds amusing at times, but also quite baffling.  They suffer dreadfully from a lack of healthcare and a lack of concern from their own government and elected leaders.  

Rosi tends to take time with all the scenes, there is no hurry. This allows the viewer the opportunity to take everything in that you are seeing because you need time to take it all in, you don't want to miss anything in this film.

In the film there are many scenes filmed in a town square. Craco's own town square had sunk many years before, so this was filmed in Guardia Pericara.  Here it was in 2009

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3592827,16.1001754,3a,60y,77.44h,89.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCwKz62XQb2-azWT-EvFm9Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656