What was the signif. with Mao's quotes in beginning? - Giù la testa (1972) Discussion

[–] FinnurE 18 years ago

It is a statement which informs the viewer what stand it takes on war and revolutions. It was omitted from the film the first time I saw it, though.

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[–] Fmartiterron 18 years ago

As I see it, a) it informs the viewer that Leone's sympathies are with the revolutionaries, as well as stablishing the backdrop of the film, the Mexican Revolution and b) it's an explanation / apology for the film's visual, much rougher and primal than in Leone's two previous westerns, "The good, the bad and the ugly" and "Once upon a time in the west".

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[–] zbyszanna 17 years ago

Leone was antirevolutionist. He was more like an anarchist, and so is this film's statement.

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[–] antonio580 17 years ago

Leone was less-then a symphatizer of revolution,...

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[–] Movester 17 years ago

In the bonus material on my DVD they state Leone wanted to have it known that he was against revolutions, and that they come with great costs.
Apparently the text was dropped out of fear that the audience would interpret it as support to revolution.

Of course this is just what they say on the DVD. I don't have specific knowledge about this.

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[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jmcc-2 17 years ago

Perhaps more precisely, given the time at which the movie was made, the point is that revolutions are violent and bloody affairs in which no distinction is made between combatants and civilians. A lot of people at the time had a romantic view of revolution and seemed to ignore the violence and its effects. Sean knew it having been involved with what he referred to as "a wee fart of a revolution" in Ireland. He had to make a decision to kill his friend who had turned informer. Juan found out the hard way when his family was killed. While the ideas of a revolution might be noble and high minded, the violence and bloodshed are anything but.

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[–] smoogy_smooger 15 years ago

The Mao quote just explains that revolutions are no tea parties. Revolutionaries either succeed or die. Revolutions have to be won at any cost and any threats eliminated by any means possible. Thousands of people invest their lives in them and the success of an ongoing revolution is greater than any individual.

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[–] liutenantsalt 15 years ago

>>Thousands of people invest their lives in them and the success of an ongoing revolution is greater than any individual. <<

At least that's the excuse people like Mao fall back on when they start mass-murdering innocents.

I'm going to assume, given your answer, you've not seen the film nor are you familiar with Leone's political stance.

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[–] stephen-morton 15 years ago

"Thousands of people invest their lives in them and the success of an ongoing revolution is greater than any individual."

Yeah, the problem with that attitude is that a revolution has to be righteous enough that I'M willing to sacrifice my life for it, but it can never be important enough that OTHERS are willing to sacrifice MY life for it. (Or perhaps it's better vice versa: It shouldn't be important enough to me that I'M willing to sacrifice OTHERS' lives for it.)

Once that happens, the revolution becomes a justification for everything and loses its legitimacy. That's exactly why the French Revolution, Russian Revolution, Chinese Revolution, etc. have led to so much more death and oppression than the regimes before them--because ideology trumps all morality.

I hope that's what Leone was saying, because I probably couldn't respect the movie if it was saying the opposite.

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[–] dgranger 15 years ago

What I think you were suposed to get from the quote from Mao is that people often glamourize the idea of a revolution while the realitity is that revolutions are bloody and dirty. I think you were suppose to take Mao's quote and to combine it with Juan Miranda's speeches: "A revolution? Seems to me the revolutions are all over the world. You know, they're like the *crabs*! We had a revolution here. When it started, all the brave people went in it, and what it did to them was terrible. Pancho Villa, the best bandit chief in the world, you know that? This man had two balls like the bull. He went in the revolution as a great bandit. When he came out, he came out as what? Nothing. A general, huh? That, to me, is the *beep*

And

"I know what I am talking about when I am talking about the revolutions. The people who read the books go to the people who can't read the books, the poor people, and say, "We have to have a change." So, the poor people make the change, ah? And then, the people who read the books, they all sit around the big polished tables, and they talk and talk and talk and eat and eat and eat, eh? But what has happened to the poor people? They're dead! That's your revolution. Shhh... So, please, don't tell me about revolutions! And what happens afterwards? The same *beep* thing starts all over again!"

And combine it with John H. (Sean) Mallory's statemnt of disallusionment about revolutions, "I used to believe in many things, all of it! Now, I believe only in dynamite." in order to understand Leone's position about what revolutions really are and who really fights them.

Here Comes Harry!
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

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