A Violent Life

Bandiera (Laurent Terzieff) and Rabbino (Franco Citti) are two dirt-poor brothers that live on the outskirts of Ostia, a small city by the seaside not far away from Rome. Haunted by their childhood memories the two still suffer from the presence of their long dead abusive father, an anarchist who married a devout catholic girl. One day the brothers find a beautiful girl sleeping in a field and take her to their rundown home. Soon the jealousies between Bandiera and Rabbino spark violently and break up their brotherly bond. Written by Pier Paolo Pasolini and directed by Franco Citti, Ostia is an enchanted and dark ballad that unfortunately anticipated the poet's sad demise a few years later. Considered by many critics and scholars the best film that Pasolini never directed, it features Citti's keen eye and ear for the stern reality of the roman sub proletariat. Stylized and brutally honest and yet moving and lyrical, A Violent Life is a forgotten masterpiece of Italian cinema. A film far ahead of it's time and ready to be discovered by a new generation of film lovers.