Spotlight on Vittorio De Seta with 10 short films and 1 feature film:
Islands of Fire (1955, short film)The Age of Swordfish (1955, short film)
Sea Countrymen (1955, short film)
Golden Parable (1955, short film)
A Day in Barbagia (1958, short film)
Orgosolo’s Shepherds (1958, short film)
Fishing Boats (1958, short film)
The Forgotten (1959, short film)
Bandits of Orgosolo (1961, feature film)
Essential films of Italian Cinema are more easily available than works of many other nations. However, this abundance still results in essential works being hidden away from the spotlight. Such is the case of Italian Director Vittorio De Seta whose films were not available until a restoration by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2019. The 10 short documentary films are part of a programme called ‘The Lost World’ and available for viewing via criterionchannel.com and also bundled together with Bandits of Orgosolo via Radiance films.
Neorealism
Ehsan Khoshbakht describes Bandits of Orgosolo as a film that “revitalized neorealism” and it is easy to see why. Vittorio De Seta has made a film stripped of any excess and one that doesn’t contain any music at all. The lack of music heightens the bleak scenarios the main character finds himself in. Bandits of Orgosolo features shepherds playing themselves and their acting is minimalist to the point that it does even feel like acting. The entire film feels like a documentary, an aspect that owes to De Seta’s background as a documentary filmmaker. Bandits of Orgosolo looks and feels like a purer version of Italian Neorealism than Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves which has more dramatic elements than De Seta’s film.
This brilliant film has resulted in a change in my Top Italian Films of all time list.
Sicilian Lives
Vittorio De Seta’s 10 documentary shorts depict the everyday lives of Sicilians. The shorts show locals engaged in different professions, such as mining (Surfarara), shepherding (Orgosolo’s Shepherds), fishing (The Age of Swordfish, Sea Countrymen, Fishing Boats), farming (Golden Parable). Majority of the films follow the men who go out to make a living so naturally, De Seta also documents the lives of women who look after the homes while their shepherd husbands are away at work (A Day in Barbagia). In addition, De Seta highlights the religious festivals and rituals associated with Sicily such as Easter in Sicily and The Forgotten. Given that Sicily is associated with volcanoes, De Seta documents that aspect as well. Islands of Fire, which won Best Short Documentary at Cannes 1955, shows how people are impacted by the hypnotic yet dangerous volcanic eruptions.
These 10 documentary shorts are precious in their historical cultural recording of Sicilian lives. It is no wonder that Marin Scorsese commented the following:
“It was as if De Seta were an anthropologist who spoke with the voice of a poet.”
“Here was cinema in its essence – where the filmmaker is not just recording reality but living it.”
As an aside, The “Feast of Silver” celebration in The Forgotten is similar to the one seen in Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte (2010).
Additional reading links
Kent Jones in Sight and Sound.
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