Mondo Cane Collection - Limited Edition

Blue Underground

Mondo Cane

Mondo Cane 2

Women of the World

Africa Addio - English Version

Africa Addio - Directors' Cut

Goodbye Uncle Tom - English Version

Addio Zio Tom - Director's Cut

The Godfathers of Mondo

Boxed Set

R1 DVD

Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi are widely considered to be the creators of the "Mondo genre." What is Mondo ? It could be best described as exploitation cinema meets documentary, it is usually cynical, made with a jaundiced view of humanity and accompanied by a rather acerbic social commentary. At the same time it is always a powerful experience. Another expressive term may be “Shockumentary” and indeed Mondo Cane gave birth to a flood of imitators ranging from Faces of Death to Shocking Asia.

This collection brought together by Blue Underground includes five of the pair's most controversial films in an eight-disc set. Two of the films are included in the edited English editions and for the first time in the West, fully uncut editions with sub-titles. These are rare films, cut, edited and butchered wherever and whenever they were released, we can now see them all in their uncensored glory.

Journalist-turned-director Jacopetti and former naturalist Prosperi first teamed for 1962's Mondo Cane (A Dog's Life), which explored strange and exotic customs from around the world. The film struck a careful balance between humour and horror, constantly juxtapositioning scenes for emotional impact and effect. Wealthy pet owners in Pasadena bury their beloved and pampered pets in yuppie graveyards, while tribespeople in Taipei braise puppies for a Sunday supper! While meeting with public acclaim, it was derided by the critics as vulgar and perhaps pornographic and banned in many countries. It seemed to shock and amaze in equal amounts and became an instant controversial success. The careful use of editing, a emotionally manipulative score and the “roller coaster” ride from horror to joy, gore to sex seemed to work well with its fans. The film achieved even more success when its musical theme was turned into the pop song "More," which became a global smash hit that was even nominated for an Oscar !

Enough footage was shot during the making of Mondo Cane to allow for a sequel (Mondo Cane II or Mondo Pazzo) in 1963. This surpassed the first with some extremely powerful images especially those of slave markets in Africa and captured slave traders and the torture devices they used to deform beggar children so they could bring in more money. Certainly there is a strong polemic in the series which sympathizes with the oppressed and despises the rich and powerful, the question always arises however, of how much of this was truly felt and how much was motivated by possible box office success due to the cultural leftism of the period. Another question is how much of the footage is real and what is staged or manipulated. In the accompanying documentary Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi admit that Mondo Cane II contains "invented" footage including the scene where the Buddhist monk sets himself on fire, which they advise was a special effect clip sold to them by another filmmaker.

Mondo Cane II was followed by Women of the World, which explored women's roles around the globe. It was narrated by Peter Ustinov and is considered the weakest of all the Mondo series.

Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi decided to try something different and traveled to Africa during the period when various European imperial powers were granting independence and withdrawing from the continent. What they produced was even more controversial than their earlier films, accused of racism by critics, they offered a brutal and unflinching portrait of a continent gone mad with a strong inference that Britain and France have a lot to answer for and that their exit was ill conceived and unplanned and directly led to the devastation of the countries and people they had previously exploited

"Africa Addio" reveals in grisly detail the crimes committed by indigenous Africans against the remaining white settlers and the local wildlife. Large segments of the film show poachers brutally killing animals in the parks set up by Europeans. But this is just the beginning, the film then explores the civil wars that broke out across the continent as the infrastructure of this regions fail.

In many ways Goodbye Uncle Tom ("Addio Zio Tom”) is an attempt to balance the perceived racism in "Africa Addio". It was filmed as a sort of historical re-creation where the filmmakers are transported back in time and visit the American South during the slave era. This is truly shocking stuff. Every scene is a horrific recreation of such abhorrent activities as the breeding of slaves, the pseudo science of racism, hunting down and killing escaped slaves, slave ships, slave markets, and so on. The filmmakers based their film on written records and accounts of slave life, it is hard going and in some ways moves beyond the Mondo category. It is shocking and confronting yet of quite some significance as a documentary.

The Godfathers of Mondo is a specially made documentary by David Gregory on the films of Jacopetti & Prosperi featuring explosive interviews, never-before-seen footage, and much more. There are lots of other nice extras too !

The picture quality on all of these films is quite astounding, especially considering the age and content, it is literally crystal clear with intense colors and perfect tone, the soundtrack is powerful and mood creating. This is an amazing collection. Blue Underground has this set listed as out of production but has released smaller 3 DVD sets as the Shockumentary Series. If you would like this original collection and it is a beauty, there is still stock available from both Amazon and Deep Discount DVD.