Customer Reviews

Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's not completely a tragedy that this movie was ever made, but, it's pretty close lol. This is not one of the great movies by Bertolucci. It's very pale and bland when compared to "The Conformist" (Which is my favorite movie by him), "The Last Emperor", and "Last Tango In Paris". But, because I have so much admiration for his films, it's hard for me to say I dislike his movies. It has to be really bad for me to give a Bertolucci movie 1 or 2 stars. It has to be at the low caliber of "The Sheltering Sky", or "Stealing Beauty". Bertolucci wrote and directed this attempt at a comedy\drama about a man, Primo (Ugo Tognazzi) who's son is kidnapped. He sells his cheese factory to only then suspect that his son was not really kidnapped after all, but is probably "in" with the kidnappers, despite what his wife, Barbara (Anouk Aimee) tells him. Hence the title of this movie, "A Ridiculous Man". Is primo really ridiculous for doubting that his son was kidnapped? At first I would guess someone would say yes, but, as the film goes on and we learn about this father & son relationship we start to think to ourselves, you know what, maybe he's not wrong after all. OK, I feel it's only fair that I tell other people the bad and good sides of this film. The movie does drag. It becomes very slow and even confusing at times. It's very low key. Unless your a Bertolucci fan, you'll have a very hard time getting interested in the movie. If you've never seen a Bertolucci film, please don't start here. Go out and rent or buy "The Grim Reaper", "Last Tango In Paris", anything but this! Now the good side. With every Bertolucci film, you have to respect his directing. He truly is one of the greats. The music by Ennio Morricone is wonderful to listen and adds an impact to certain scenes. The cinematography by Carlo Di Palma hits his usual high standard. The acting isn't bad either. I do wish though that there was more scenes for Aimee but otherwise it's fine. And finally as with every other film he's made Bertolucci has his two most famous traits in this movie. Number one - All of his films are visually colorful. Many of his films take us someplace new. Number two - All of his films are very sexual think of "Last Tango In Paris", "1900", and his more recent "Stealing Beauty". So in short Bertolucci fans will get what they expect from him, but, others might be disappointed with this film. Infact I don't know if anyone does like this film. I'm the only person reviewing it! Enjoy Bertolucci fans.

Bernardo Bertolucci entered the 80's with this low-key offering, a tale of an industrialist father whose son is kidnapped by members of the terrorist left and held for ransom. An air of melancholy permeates the whole picture as not only does the father have to pay the ransom, but he may also have to sell off his cheese factory to do so.

'Tragedy Of A Ridiculous Man' however is not that easy to digest on first viewing. It dramatizes a period of recent Italian history (terrorist kidnappings of the 70's) and if you're not particularly au fait with this history then the background to the film becomes a little difficult to comprehend. The political sympathies of the film are not as clear cut as in other Bertolucci films such as 'Before The Revolution' and '1900'. The main character is a factory owner who also feels enormous sympathy for his workers. At some points in the film you sense that the people of the factory are his true family as he seemed to have received little love from his wife and son. The idea then of selling his factory to pay for his son's ransom becomes the central dilemma of the film. What does he care most about, his son's life or the economic well-being of his workers. Primo wants to believe that his son is dead because this takes away the difficulty of deciding. I think he also suspects that his son was in kahoots with the kidnappers and wanted to test his father's devotion to his workers.

Face yourself with this dilemma Would you sell your most beloved life project to raise the ransom money of your kidnapped son by a terrorist gang?. Or perhaps you would assume he has been murdered from the first day?.

Bernardo Bertolucci somehow returns with this picture to his first stage of bitter gaza about the society (Remember La strategia del ragno The spider' s strategy or Il conformista , The conformist) in the late sixties and early seventies.

Pitifully the resolution plot is far to be satisfactory. But still Tonazzi won the coveted Prize as Best Actor in 1982 by this role. And that' s a good point to its favor.