Hawks & Sparrows / Pigsty

One is a surreal, picaresque comedy co-starring a talking Marxist raven (Hawks and Sparrows), while the other concerns itself with cannibalism and postwar Nazi ideology (Pigsty). The features' difference in tone is marked, but by packaging both together for this limited edition release, Masters of Cinema ingeniously demonstrate Pier Paolo Pasolini's flair for invention. Preoccupied with thoughts of the natural world and the social structures man imposes upon it, the iconoclastic director would address the same themes throughout his career, yet rarely come close to repeating himself.

Of the two films, Hawks and Sparrows stands out for its accessibility. A light mood is maintained throughout, from the wonderfully post-modern title music to the slapstick cruelty of the film's conclusion. It's as much the work of a nihilist as the notorious Salo, though is wholly lacking in the harrowing bitterness of his later work.

Made just three years later, Pigsty is a different matter entirely. Like Hawks and Sparrows, it mocks 1960s youth culture. However, while the earlier work does this by sardonically embracing the era's aesthetics, here Pasolini employs wordy, cryptic dialogues within the austere setting of a country mansion. These scenes, involving the son of a prominent German politician and his radicalised girlfriend, are intercut with a seperate narrative showing cannibals atop a volcanic landscape. Both stories tie together nicely, but demand high levels of patience from the viewer.

These films could only have been made by the one visionary, yet viewing them back-to-back suggests he was at his best when creating subversive, rather than enigmatic, art.

Extras

This single Blu-ray disc presents the movies in high definition transfers, and is accompanied by a booklet featuring discussion of the works from both film scholars and Pasolini himself. The set is limited to 1500 copies.

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Released on Blu-ray by Eureka Entertainment – order your copy at www.eurekavideo.co.uk