Customer Reviews

Passion of Pier Paolo Pasolini (Bfi Perspectives)

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The great contemporary philosopher Judith Butler wrote an op ed piece for the "New York Times" a while back in which she beautifully explained why it is writers need complex forms of rhetoric in order to explain complex subject matter.

No filmmaker was more complex, intelligent, and, indeed, difficult than Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Sam Rhodie's book does a nice job of using the theoretical tools necessary to adequately address the late great filmmaker/poet/philosopher. As far as I'm concerned, if you can't understand Rhodie's book, you'll never be able to understand Pasolini's films, so you shouldn't even bother trying. His great films are the cinematic equivalent of Foucault, Barthes, Althusser, and Delezue, and they're not for people only interested in them for the nudity, sex and violence. Pasolini said as much over and over again in his own, published newspaper essays. In fact, he was always sad that so many people came to watch his films with shallow intentions, particularly those "fans" he aquired after the "Trilogy of Life" and "Salo". On the other hand, I'm sure PPP would have been very pleased by THE PASSION OF PIER PAOLO PASOLINI.

PASSION is a fine book about a complex artist. Like a reader below, I am shocked that so many people have found this book "dense" and "unreadable". What do you expect from an academic press? Also, it's clear that "ed" and "Ryan" are the same person--they use the same words and make the same gramatical mistakes. To ed/Ryan I would ask this: you say (twice) that this is the only book about Pasolini in English. Well, guess what? There are at least EIGHT that I can think of off-hand, most of which you ought to be able to order right here from Amazon.com. If you can't even track down any of those books, how do you expect to read something as intricate as this one?

I have a particular passion for Pasolini, and I've read most of the English language books about him and his films. This is, for my money, one of the two or three best. (Naomi Greene's "Cinema as Heresy" is still the best volume with which to start.)

I found this a great follow-up. It's a book dealing with a number of topics related to Pasolini that most other authors have downplayed or ignored (like his work about Africa.) Yes, it's an academic book. It's released by a university press (Indiana UP), which should tip potential readers off to the fact that this isn't some sort of Entertainment Weekly level book. Still, I'm puzzled by other comments claiming this is unusually difficult or boring. (If you want difficult reading, try to read Pasolini's own essays!) I read this volume around the house during a Christmas break while drinking eggnog with my family and didn't have need for the unabridged dictionary. Feel free to click onto the sample pages here on Amazon. The prose's sentence length and complexity seems about average for adult reading to me. I guess that if you're ill-educated in critical theory and find yourself interested in this title only because of the book's sexually shocking cover (and Pasolini's scandalous reputation), you'll be disappointed. But if you want a smart account of Pasolini's work in the era of Queer Theory and Post-Colonial Studies, this is a book for you.

Why some people who review books think that they can also review those who post their own opinions is beyond me. I tried to read this book, and Mr. Rohdie's style of writing betrays a questionable lack of the grasp of English and sentence structure, the type of style one might attempt to simply put people off and intimidate.

What is ridiculous is the idea that, if one were to fail to enjoy a particular style of writing, one holds such an opinion because that person is incapable of understanding the book, and merely not liking the way in which it was written. i am capable of understanding every single sentence and word and concept the author writes in this tome. i simply saw no point in its being so dense.

The rude and insulting positive review given this book by one of the reviewers merely proves the reason people find academics so annoying...the idea that to dislike something betrays an intellectual weakness is not only short sighted, but extremely presumptuous.

nonetheless, being a fan of this book is certainly not a prerequisite for enjoying or understanding pasolini's films. while rife with meaning, like all great art, they work on several levels, not merely as comples marxist allegories but also as powerful narratives of their own.

i defy anyone to wade through this book without rewriting and editing it in their head. i found myself doing so, and found myself able to easily describe the same sentiments in roughly 1/3 the space. not worth it. and not liking it doesn't mean you are dumb. it probably means the person saying that is trying to make themselves feel smarter.

first off, yeah, ed and ryan are the same person. and yeah, i make errors, although they are more 'typos' than 'grammatical errors'. didn't consider reviews of a book on amazon to be an english paper. as for your question, is it supposed to imply that b/c i was unable to find more books about pasolini that i am somehow mentally deficient? doesn't the fact that i am interested in a director like pasolini at all, enough, in fact, to seek him out, indicate that i put some effort into this?

fact: you are writing in 2004. my review, you'll notice, was written in 2000. since i was able to find one book (and btw, there is a big difference between saying that you could only find one book in english and that there exists only one book in english), isn't it possible that, in the FOUR YEARS between when i wrote my review and you posted your response, that these other seven books have been released, or, if they were written before my search, eithe were not currently in print or were not available to amazon at the time? and for the record, yeah, i foud those too, the other day, when i searched for pasolini again.

of course, in that time, not only has pasolini and italian cinema in general become more visible (due to, among other things, Criterion's release of Mamma Roma, and the rarity of their version of Salo), but Amazon, and indeed the entire WWW, has increased exponentially. so, isn't it just possible, dave, that in 2000 there was only 1 book carried by Amazon and other sites, and in 2004, when you posted your answer, there were now eight? do you REALLY think i just am so feeble minded that i can't figure out how to use a search engine to fine books about pasolini? if you want tto attack me, you'd better get something better than that. you know nothing of me, and to assume that you could mock me, or make some statement about my intelligence...come on! logiically, how could i have found ONE book, but somehow not found the other 7, if they were there? explain that? i mean, its not like i found that one accidentally!

or is it possible that, oh i don't know, YOU are the one not showing intelligence and deductive abilities?

as for the book itself...well, again, having 2 advanced degrees in film, as well as a bachelors in telecommiunications, i have, SHOCK, actually read many academic texts. NOWHERE did i say i couldnt understand it. i uunderstood it perfectly. i just said it was badly written, and in my mind, dense, impenetrable writiing need not be a reality in ANY type of work, PARTICULARLY something like this, which is really just basic critical theory. it's just needlessly dull...

don't put words in my mouth. i never said i couldnt understand it. and give me one good reason why 'academic press; should be boring and impenetrable? oh, or does that mean that you think you can take pot shots at my intellgence based on a review written 4 years before? (8 now)

'dave'...clearly, from your sloppy dissemination of my review (i never said it was the ONLY book in english, but the only one i could find in 2000.) if you have to twist someone's meaning or resort to 'grammatical correction' to make your case, then you don't have one.

bottom line, i am entitled to my opinion. i think it is a very poorly written work. since you were unable to defend the writing, and in fact made no attempt to do so, but rather resorted to weak attacks on me personally that were paper thin, then i will assume you cannot defend it.

pointer...stay away from ad hominem attacks, esp if people are just giving their opinions. you don't know me, and if you think i am going to let you come on a public site and pull that weak bad mouthing, that really completely ignores context, then you are dead wrong.

oh, and btw, i know there are prob typos in this post. since this isnt 3rd grade english class, i am not going to worry about them. i dont consider this a spelling bee...so, yeah, what a big boy you will be if you can point those out. wow. i assume that those reading this are not feeble minded and can probably figure it out from the context.

Pasolini's cinema is profound and yet uncomplicated at the same time - I believe that his extraordinary films can be readily understood by the average viewer. Nonetheless, I was looking for a text that would help me to assess further the entire body of Pasolini's cinema, to see the common denominators in all the films and augment my critical eye. Rohdie's book is useless to me and mostly unreadable. The sentences are very long and pedantic. You keep waiting for facts or ideas that will enhance your appreciation of Pasolini's life and work but they never arrive. It appears to be a text that was written to impress academic colleagues or an editor. I have a graduate degree and studied film as an undergraduate, and I wouldn't recommend this boring volume even for use as a college textbook.

despite what one SINGLE reviewer said, this book was impenetrably dense. and, for the record, i have two post graduate degrees in film...so i am familiar with the concept of reading something deeper than an entertainment weekly article...nice assumption, btw... this book is not only difficult to read, but i believe intentionally, and unnecessarily so. GOOD writers realize that sentences do not need to drag on for line after line. the truly unfortunate thing is that i am intensely interested in pasolini's life and work. i have been unable to find any work, in english, dealing with this fascinating figure... although maybe i should try reading some of the books in italian. they would probably make more sense... oh wait, i guess that makes me shallow...maybe i should try reading it while drinking egg nog...that might help.

mr rohdie is very impressed with himself. he does indeed possess great knowledge of italian culture and film. unfortuinately, he writes in such dense academic language, and seems incapable of constructing a sentence without attempting to make it as difficult to read as possible. This book is a first class example of a nod to academia, with no concern for the reader whatsoever. I recommend reading the first sentence of any paragraph, deciding whether it seems like it will actually contain any information, or if it will be an excuse for rohdie to douse the readrer in esoteric references. If it the former, read on. If it is the latter, and it most certainly willl be, skip the paragraph. No information will be contained therein.

pasolini is a fascinating figure. I hope someone actually arites a book about him someday...