From its sung opening credits, Hawks and Sparrows (Uccellacci e uccellini) is a wonderfully free-form picaresque fable that lampoons politics, religion and the state of modern Italy, as the beloved comic actor Totò, Pasolini regular Ninetto Davoli and a talking crow wander the landscape through a gauntlet of unexpected encounters. Pigsty (Porcile) is one of his most controversial works, interspersing the mute wanderings of cannibalistic savages against a barren, volcanic earth with the tale of Julian (played by Nouvelle Vague icon Jean-Pierre Léaud), his radically politicised fiancée Ida (Anne Wiazemsky, Au Hasard Balthazar), and the financial machinations of his father Herr Klotz in contemporary industrialised Germany. Both films demonstrate a restless, pioneering artist's exploration of the natural world contrasted with the societal structures that govern human life. Visually inspired and playing by no-one's rules other than his own, these two brilliant works by Pasolini are presented on Blu-ray for the first time in a new limited edition. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, ...The Hawks and the Sparrows / Pigsty
