Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Leofwine_draca The granddaddy of the sick but surprisingly popular "shockumentary" format favoured by real-death movies like the infamous FACES OF DEATH series, MONDO CANE is a sometimes naïve, sometimes shocking journey through dozens of bizarre world practices, rituals and lifestyles. Although the sex angle has badly dated since the '60s - bikini-clad dancing Honolulu girls are no longer controversial or topical - the film is still surprisingly efficient at disturbing, surprising, and sometimes disgusting the viewer. The overall impact of the film ranges from the humorous to the downright pathetic, stirring feelings of pathos, morbidity, and sometimes overwhelming grief into the mix. It's surprisingly moving in parts, considering the subject matter, helped no doubt by the Oscar-winning music which actually makes it harder-hitting than it ought to be. Jacopetti keeps his narration interesting and informative, without being too condescending to the people portrayed.One particular sequence highlights the effects that a nuclear blast has had on a Pacific atoll. Eggs are sterile and sea turtles have lost their sense of direction, crawling aimlessly back on to the sand instead of the sea where they bake to death. One heart-wrenching sequence shows a delirious turtle, on the brink of death, feebly flapping its limbs as it mistakenly believes its back in the water. I'm not ashamed to say this bit had me in tears.Thankfully, not all of this film is downbeat and some of it is quite educational. Subjects range from female tribes hunting down their menfolk to a native race who have erected a monument to the aeroplane, in the mistaken belief that planes are heaven-sent. Then there are the bizarre scenes of a pig being breastfed, pet cemeteries in the US, chicks being coloured and baked in an oven, geese being force-fed, cattle massages, a restaurant where ants and beetles are served as the delicacies, birds living under the ground, and drunken Germans losing all sense of self-respect.The film is definitely not for the squeamish, showing makeup being applied to corpses and Chinese folk waiting on the verge of death (the camera thrust in their faces) whilst their families celebrate. The nastiest moment for me is a religious practice in an Italian village, where men slice open their legs with glass and let the blood dribble down the streets - this is really gruesome. Animal-lovers should look elsewhere, as bulls are beheaded and pigs cruelly slaughtered. Cute lovable puppies are caged up and eaten in eastern restaurants. Although the tone is occasionally exploitative, this is head and shoulders above the increasingly disgusting shockumentaries that followed and at moments it becomes really moving. Worth at least one watch for lovers of the curious.

Tyler Martinez I watched this today after having it on my NetFlix queue for a while, every once in a while I like the shocker flicks, and this one intrigued me... I was very disappointed... The opening was a little difficult to watch, and proved to be the most shocking to me. The rest of the film was hardly shocking at all, sure it had it's moments, the bull scene and the people bloodying up their legs for the Jesus run, but overall it was just a series of boring and highly forgettable stock footage clips accompanied by cheesy narration... The only thing "shocking" about this is that anyone would find it "shocking" to begin with... I guess I was just expecting a little too much.

masonrs I saw "Mondo Cane" twice or more in the early '70s. I first saw it in boarding school as part of the Saturday night film series (this being 1971). At the time kids thought it extremely racy and daring; to see it was an act of rebellion. Teenagers made it a rite of passage. That said, it never carried an x-rating or was banned, that I know of. I recall the cargo cult sequence most vividly, along with the dog-eating segment and a few others. I found the narration often humorous but rather self-righteous and condescending at times. And that lush theme music! In those days (early '50s to early '70s), every film had to have a hit song, often mushily romantic. Even shockumentaries had to have one (that may have died out by the time of "Cannibal Holocaust," however). "More" helped balance out the often very seamy aspects of the film. At school the kids often snickered at the various bizarre scenes, or made ribald comments. Catcalls occasionally erupted. I thought the film daring at the time, sometimes gross. I saw it again a couple of more times, though not after the early '70s. The film seemed less avant garde or challenging each time. Now it seems tame and dull compared to the shockumentaries that followed it. I have little interest in seeing it again, and have had no chances to do so (though you can get it on DVD). Repertory theaters where I've been have not shown it in recent years, nor has it appeared on television (to my knowledge). According to descriptions, it has numerous scenes of cruelty to animals (which I thankfully don't recall), and thus I would not be inclined toward repeat viewings. "Mondo Cane" did set the stage for reality TV and predicted much of what would happen in today's exploitative television and underground film world. That gives the film at least some historical interest. In retrospect, the cargo cult sequence is the most poignant.

stalzz64 Not for the faint of heart or for those easily offended or easily bored by documentary 'filler'. This film and its' sequel are documents of a different time,....the 1960's, way before the internet, cable and satellite TV brought us the world instantly. It brought the world to the masses. People were not jumping on planes and going to Africa, Asia or anywhere else like we do now. These brought the unusual strange parts of the world to them at their local cinema.Violent, Odd and downright strange are good words to describe this film.Not your typical documentary film, to be sure. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!