Wie de Waarheid Zegt Moet Dood (1981) User Reviews

The Man Who Left His Will On Film

[chris-2512 · 8/10 · 17 July 2006]

I think Pier Paolo Pasolini is one of the most important directors in the history of cinema ever. He's probably my favourite filmmaker of all time and the austere power of his films like Teorama or Porcile makes him the equal of Welles, Godard and Herzog, all of whom he influenced. His camera invoked the ultimate essence of 'being there' and his subjects almost become more real in front of it. There was something so physical, so obsessive in his approach, it seemed Pasolini could never escape reality, even when he tried to subvert it with myth and allegory.

I saw this documentary film several years ago on VHS and although I greedily devoured it, I couldn't help but think that, besides being a master filmmaker, Pasolini may also be one of the most enigmatic people ever. Like Andy Warhol, no one talks about Pasolini's personality the same way.

Everyone seems to have a different take on the purpose and goals of his life and art depending on whether they viewed him as an academic, an artist, politician, or homosexual, of which he was all these things and more. Because of this, it's virtually impossible to make a composite of who Pasolini really was. I wish this film had more footage of interviews with Pasolini himself.

Bertolluci's interview is probably the most enlightening and interesting, but you can tell he can't even begin to unpack his feelings about Pasolini. The awe and admiration Bertolluci had for his master is obvious and touching.

No one interested in Pasolini should pass up this otherwise strong documentary, but it's not the final doc on Pasolini's life by a long shot.

It would be hard to imagine what Pasolini would have thought about the state of world-film-making today, or what kind of films he would have made had he lived.

' I killed my father, I ate human flesh, and I quiver with joy!' - Porcile

Intriguing profile of Italy's finest post-war poet

[MatthewPaul85 · 8/10 · 2 April 2008]

Pier Paolo Pasolini was perhaps the most controversial filmmaker in Italy's history. Like Hearst did with the printed word, Pasolini took the art film to the slums - the average working class. Aside from famously adapting great classical works (CHAUCER, BOCCACCIO, SADE, etc.) he also penned scripts for his peers Bernardo Bertolucci and Federico Fellini. The documentary does a fine job addressing Pasolini's literary prowess, simply reading excerpts from his brilliant poetry (stark and reflective, perfect companion to his cinematic works). A fine profile on this genius. Nice touch is that it is partially in English, rather than being completely subtitled like any other movie about Pasolini.

Martyrdom and Murder- Italian Style

[NoDakTatum · 8/10 · 26 October 2023]

On November 2, 1975, film maker Pier Paolo Pasolini was brutally beaten, and then run over by a car, ending the life of an inconvenient thorn in the side of the powers-that-be in Italy. Pasolini was born in 1922 to a rich military father who gambled away most of the family's money, and a vocally anti-fascist mother. Pasolini became a follower of Mussolini anyway, and published a volume of poetry during World War II. Things changed after the politically motivated murder of Pasolini's younger brother, and Pasolini turned into a Communist who longed for Italy's return to greatness as experienced in the Roman Empire and Renaissance eras. Pasolini began to teach high school. An open homosexual, he was acquitted of charges of having sex with his students, but was fired anyway. He became fascinated with the young slum boys of Rome, and the writings of political dissident Antonio Gramsci. Pasolini was a walking contradiction. He supported Communism but attacked conformity. He began writing novels and essays, eventually branching into film making with "Accattone," where he was assisted by a young Bernardo Bertolucci. Pasolini specialized in neorealism- realistic films about everyday people with epic characterizations, but soon entered mythic film making with such works as "The Gospel According to St. Matthew," "The Decameron," "Oedipus Rex," "The Canterbury Tales," and "Arabian Nights." Pasolini's prolific writing continued as well, making him the scourge of both the left and right wings of Italian political circles. Then came "Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom." Pasolini turned people into objects to attack consumerism in this violent tale of torture. It was to be his last film, although his next project was about a modern day St. Paul in the United States.

The investigation into Pasolini's death was hurried and sloppy. A seventeen year old male prostitute was sentenced to nine years in jail for the murder, even though no blood was found on the boy's clothes, and the Italian government chalked the incident up to just another homosexual, who was into rough sex, taking things a little too far. Pier Paolo Pasolini is a difficult subject because of his innate Italian character. When I saw this documentary, I had seen three of his films: "Love Meetings" (a total bore about sexual behavior among Italian youths), "Teorema" (a sometimes tedious surrealistic exercise), and "The Canterbury Tales" (a confusing and confused adaptation). The readings of his poetry show a passionate patriot embroiled in good but dense imagery obsessed with a perceived downturn in Italian culture. English majors, think Robinson Jeffers writing urban and political verse. Pasolini was not a Lucio Fulci or a Ruggero Deodato, shooting "Salo" to excite and exploit, this is a man who slaved over his art and thoughts, publishing a book calling for the criminal prosecution of the ruling party at that time, with passages that make Michael Moore read like A. A. Milne. The film itself is just an hour, a detriment to such a complex thinker. Although punctuated with gory death photos of Pasolini, the viewer must do their own detective work about what happened that night decades ago. "Salo" was not the end all-be all of Pier Paolo Pasolini's life. He had plenty more to say, but not enough time to say it. The accused male prostitute recanted his story and the case was reopened. Too late for a one of a kind film maker, artist, and writer. "Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die" does do a good job introducing Pasolini to many, whether we should heed his warning that all truth opens a writer to danger and death falls squarely on the viewer.

Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die

[Michael_Elliott · 10 August 2008]

Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die (1981)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Strange documentary from the Netherlands, which talks of the life, poetry and films of the controversial Pier Paolo Pasolini who was brutally murdered in 1975. The official cause of death is that the director took a 17-year-old boy for a walk, made sexual advances towards him and then the boy killed him. The conspiracy theory on display here is that the government and Christians had something to do with the murder due to the director's Salo and some poems he wrote towards the end of his life. For the most part this documentary is a complete bore that really doesn't come to life until the final ten minutes when the murder is looked at. The best piece of evidence given are the photos of Pasolini's body, which was beaten to a pulp and then driven over by a car. This is the evidence, which claims the boy didn't do the killings even though those being interviewed admit that Pasolini was the sexually aggressive type. The documentary never talks to anyone on the opposite side so we never really get any clear answers to what really happened. The stuff discussing his poems and films isn't very well done and doesn't really shine a light on anything because all the film really does is remind us that he was a homosexual every ten minutes.