Caesar Must Die (Taviani, Taviani, 2012): Italy

Viewed at the Lobero Theatre on January 28, 2013, during the Santa Barbara International  Festival at 11:00 A.M. Reviewed by Larry Gleeson. “Caesar Must Die,”a masterful rendition of a filmed play, a narrative and a documentary all seemingly rolled into a one of a kind colossal piece of work in a “quick” seventy-six minutes. The film is directed by the Taviani Brothers who choose to begin the film with what appears to be a filmed play as we see a staged play in color and an up-roaring applauding audience paying great respect to what they’ve just witnessed. And, just as quickly as the audience applauded, the film cuts to black and white and thus begins the feel of a documentary as we discover what we’re seeing are prison inmates going for auditions in a Roman prison.

The casting agents request the actors who all seem to e Italians with a natural dramatic flare built into their genetic make-up,to recite personal data – name, birth date and  place of birth, pre-incarceration city or town of residence – first emotionally distraught and then again defiantly angry with surprising results of great intensity and with subtle humor. Here overlays provide their convictions and the lengths of their sentences and we become privy to the fact that these are hardened criminals. For those who are familiar with the original “Dirty Dozen” a resemblance can be ascertained. Much like the stockade soldiers being sent behind enemy lines to carry out a dangerous mission, our inmates are volunteering to take part in a pilot program to introduce art into the Roman prison system.

Interestingly enough, the theatre director allows the men to speak in their native dialect and to find within their respective life experience as common ground with the character they are portraying. The character of Julius Caesar is played by Giovanni Arcuri with swagger and determination. Brutus is played by, in my opinion, the most interesting cast member, Salvatore Striano. Pardoned of his crimes in 2006, Striano took up acting and returned to the prison to participate and work in this production.

Furthermore, watching the inmates rehearse and run lines within the prison added an unbefore seen experience of Shakespeare for me. What at first appeared as a lifeless existence being incarcerated, I watched these inmates become re-animated performing daily routines and mundane chores.

The reality of the inmates being returned to their cell in the evening and hearing the closing and latching of their cell doors was a powerful reminder of the seriousness of their existence. A telling affect the experience had on the inmates shouts loudly in a mild-mannered tone as the inmate Rega serving a twenty year stretch breaks the fourth wall and comes right into the theatre screening stating, “Since I have known art, this cell has become a prison.” Indeed, the power of dramatic art to form and shape and experience can be so profound. I took a chance on this viewing with a large group of retired Rhodes scholars and I feel I was handsomely rewarded. Highly recommended to theatre and film buffs alike.