The Great Silence
Encyclopedia
The Great Silence or The Big Silence, is an Italian
spaghetti western
. It is widely considered by critics as the masterpiece of director Sergio Corbucci
and is one of his better known movies, along with Django
(1966
). Unlike most conventional and spaghetti westerns, The Great Silence takes place in the snow-filled landscapes of Utah
during the Great Blizzard of 1899
.
The movie features a score by Ennio Morricone
and stars Jean-Louis Trintignant
as Silence, a mute gunfighter with a grudge against bounty hunter
s, assisting a group of outlawed Mormon
s and a woman trying to avenge her husband (one of the outlaws). They are set against a group of ruthless bounty hunter
s, led by Loco (Klaus Kinski
).
. In order to survive, the poor people start to steal and rob. Therefore they become outlaws and have to hide in the mountains, because of the bounty
rewarded on them. While people are suffering, the village becomes a paradise for bounty hunters, who can hardly be opposed by the poor, who are labelled as outlaws.
When Pauline's husband falls prey to the unscrupulous bounty hunter Loco (Klaus Kinski
), she hires a mute gunfighter, Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant
), to kill Loco. Since Silence as a child had to watch his parents being killed by bounty hunters, he tramps through the country chasing those who are killing people for money under the cloak of the law. In order to not violate the law and be added to the blacklist of the bounty hunters, he provokes them to pull out their weapon first. Then he has a reason to act in "self-defense
" and shoot them.
But Loco does not let himself be provoked. Not until after he lures the new sheriff
– who had been given the impossible task by the governor
to re-establish order in the region and to grant amnesty to those starving in the mountains – to his death, does Loco face up to the final fight with Silence?
n and Asia
n markets, where the hero's death in the end would have been deemed unacceptable.
The Fantoma DVD features the alternative "happy" ending without sound. The comic sheriff played by Frank Wolff
returns from the "dead" (after having been trapped in a frozen lake by Loco) to save the day. It is unlikely that an English or Italian audio track was ever created for this ending.
(1959), directed by Andre De Toth
and Black Sabbath
(1963), directed by Mario Bava
. Day of the Outlaw was a black-and-white western starring Robert Ryan
and set in the snowbound town of Bitters, Wyoming
, disrupted in the film by the arrival of seven outlaws on the run from the cavalry with a stolen army payroll. The segment from Bava's Black Sabbath titled 'Wurdulak' was also an inspiration for the film. "A nobleman, Count Vladimir D'Urfe (Mark Damon
) discovers the headless corpse of Alibek (a Turkish bandit) in the snowbound mountains on his way to Yessey. He takes it to a nearby peasant house, where he finds a family living in fear. Their father, an old man named Gorka (Boris Karloff
) has been hunting for the bandit for days and is due back at ten o'clock that night; Alibek is a wurdulak (a vampire): 'a cadaver always seeking blood'. If Gorka hasn't returned by the appointed hour, his family must kill him, as he has been vampirised too." The film also draws from the basic theme of A Fistful of Dollars
(1964) in that there are "warring factions fighting over a town."
As in Django Sergio Corbucci again used medieval motifs of witch craze
. Also, the film bristles with catholic
motifs.
With this film, Sergio Corbucci brought together different approaches of the spaghetti western
genre with highly political themes from contemporary history. On the one hand, the main hero is not only close-lipped, he is mute. The muteness of Trintignant is a joke, which is typical for Corbucci. Because a western hero never talks much, Corbucci exaggerates this genre-typical must and depicts the main hero as a mute. Besides the end, another aspect is the emphasis on law and its organs. For example, Klaus Kinski as the villain mentions several times that he has not violated a single law. This is clarified by the Ahasuerus
figure of the justice of the peace
, played by Luigi Pistilli
, who is the merchant of the village too.
Here, the double-dealing zeitgeist
becomes clear: the actions of the state and its law are controlled by Capital (economics)
. Even the demonstration of this aspect was perceived as criticism on America and capitalism. Because of its interpretation, the law fails as a moral instance. With its law, the state only protects the property and rewards bounty instead of supporting the people themselves. Pure privation forces the people to steal in order to survive. But because of the inevitable criminal act, they become criminals who are chased by bounty hunters in order to ensure law and order. Thus, the "evil" bounty hunters are those who ensure law and order, whilst the "poor" are fought as lawbreakers.
Silence himself is not a saviour. In fact, Corbucci provides Silence with a reason for his acting (a traumatic childhood experience), but he also lets Pauline explicitly mention that Silence claims the same sum for killing Loco as Loco received for killing Pauline's husband. And Silence also cleverly interprets the law in order to perform a contract killing under the cloak of self-defense.
In spite of this fact, Silence, like other heroes in spaghetti westerns, functions as a role model
and sympathetic character for the audience. From that point of view, it is a remarkable consequence of Corbucci, that he lets Loco triumph. All sympathetic characters, as well as the defenseless hostages, are killed in cold blood.
Corbucci dedicated the story about a good man, who dies in a barbaric hell, to the memory of Jesus
, Martin Luther King, and Che Guevara
. The reference to Che Guevara and Jesus becomes apparent by the destruction of Silence's hands. Jesus was nailed on the cross and the hands of dead Che Guevara were sent to Fidel Castro
in a preserving jar. Corbucci previously used the motif of the destroyed hands in Django
. This symbolism is intended to point out the impossibility of the revolution
, because the execution of Silence does not save the hostages, just as Che Guevara's assassination did not change mankind significantly.
The film is understood as a critical answer to For a Few Dollars More
by Sergio Leone
, who depicted the bounty hunters uncritically, almost naïvely.
Therefore, Corbucci proceeded in a very sociological manner and created the first part of a trilogy
, which deals with the topic "revolution". While the impossibility of revolution was pointed out in The Great Silence, the topic was picked up again and solutions were pointed out in the films The Mercenary
and Compañeros
.
The Great Silence is considered a cult film
that is convincing because of its complexity. In fact, while the political aspect has sometimes overlooked in subsequent decades, the film is still looked at by many as a high water mark for the Euro-western genre.
The Austria
n director Michael Haneke
is a great fan of the film too and refers to the ending as unique. The only piece with a similar plot structure coming to his mind, is Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea
.
Reportedly, Jean-Louis Trintignant only agreed to play in a spaghetti western under the condition that he did not have to learn any lines for the role. That's why the main character conveniently became a mute in the story.
, around the ski resorts of Cortina d'Ampezzo
(Veneto
) and San Cassiano in Badia. It was also shot at Bracciano Lake, near Manziana
in Lazio and the Elios town set in Rome
was used for several of the Snow Hill scenes (including two nights sequences and the build-up to the final duel).
The scenes were shot at night so that the fake "snow" looked more convincing; shaving foam was used to give the street a snowbound look. For the daylight scenes, the Elios set was swathed in fog, to disguise the fact that the surrounding countryside had no snow.
Progressive Music Association is running, which encourages bands and musical artists to musically interpret the film. The Spaghetti Epic 3 The Hungarian progressive rock
band Yesterdays
wrote a 20 minutes long epic called Suite Pauline based on the main character's story (this song is also featured on the Spaghetti Epic 3 CD). Anima Morte also recorded a version of the main theme for the Cani Arrabbiati - Opening themes tribute compilation.
The music by Ennio Morricone
was later sampled by Thievery Corporation
. The grindcore
band Cripple Bastards
released an album with the same title.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
. It is widely considered by critics as the masterpiece of director Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci was an Italian film director. He is best known for his very violent yet intelligent spaghetti westerns...
and is one of his better known movies, along with Django
Django (film)
Django is a 1966 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero in the eponymous role. The film earned a reputation as being one of the most violent films ever made up to that point and was subsequently refused a certificate in Britain until 1993, when it was...
(1966
1966 in film
The year 1966 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer...
). Unlike most conventional and spaghetti westerns, The Great Silence takes place in the snow-filled landscapes of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
during the Great Blizzard of 1899
Great Blizzard of 1899
The Great Blizzard of 1899 was an unprecedented winter weather event that affected the southern United States. What made it historic was both the severity of winter weather and the extent of the U.S. it affected, especially in the South. The first reports indicated record-high barometric pressure...
.
The movie features a score by Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
and stars Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant is a French actor who has enjoyed an international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.-Career:...
as Silence, a mute gunfighter with a grudge against bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
s, assisting a group of outlawed Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
s and a woman trying to avenge her husband (one of the outlaws). They are set against a group of ruthless bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
s, led by Loco (Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
).
Plot
Winter 1898. The rough weather brings hunger and privation to the small village of Snowhill in UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. In order to survive, the poor people start to steal and rob. Therefore they become outlaws and have to hide in the mountains, because of the bounty
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...
rewarded on them. While people are suffering, the village becomes a paradise for bounty hunters, who can hardly be opposed by the poor, who are labelled as outlaws.
When Pauline's husband falls prey to the unscrupulous bounty hunter Loco (Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
), she hires a mute gunfighter, Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant is a French actor who has enjoyed an international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.-Career:...
), to kill Loco. Since Silence as a child had to watch his parents being killed by bounty hunters, he tramps through the country chasing those who are killing people for money under the cloak of the law. In order to not violate the law and be added to the blacklist of the bounty hunters, he provokes them to pull out their weapon first. Then he has a reason to act in "self-defense
Self-defense
Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
" and shoot them.
But Loco does not let himself be provoked. Not until after he lures the new sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
– who had been given the impossible task by the governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
to re-establish order in the region and to grant amnesty to those starving in the mountains – to his death, does Loco face up to the final fight with Silence?
Ending
The film is famous for its bleak ending, a bloody scene in which the sympathetic characters are gunned down by the greedy bounty hunters, "all according to the law," as Loco comments. The director was forced to shoot an alternate ending for the North AfricaNorth Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n markets, where the hero's death in the end would have been deemed unacceptable.
The Fantoma DVD features the alternative "happy" ending without sound. The comic sheriff played by Frank Wolff
Frank Wolff (actor)
Walter Frank Hermann Wolff was a versatile American actor whose prolific movie career began with roles in five 1958-61 Roger Corman productions and ended a decade later in Rome, after scores of appearances in European-made films, most of which were lensed in Italy.- Early life :A native of San...
returns from the "dead" (after having been trapped in a frozen lake by Loco) to save the day. It is unlikely that an English or Italian audio track was ever created for this ending.
Cast
- Silence - Jean-Louis TrintignantJean-Louis TrintignantJean-Louis Trintignant is a French actor who has enjoyed an international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.-Career:...
- Loco (Named "Tigrero" in the ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
version) - Klaus KinskiKlaus KinskiKlaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early... - Pollicutt - Luigi PistilliLuigi PistilliLuigi Pistilli was an Italian actor of stage, screen, and television. In theater, he was considered one of the country's best interpreters of Bertolt Brecht's plays in The Threepenny Opera and St Joan of the Stockyards....
- Sheriff - Frank WolffFrank Wolff (actor)Walter Frank Hermann Wolff was a versatile American actor whose prolific movie career began with roles in five 1958-61 Roger Corman productions and ended a decade later in Rome, after scores of appearances in European-made films, most of which were lensed in Italy.- Early life :A native of San...
- Pauline - Vonetta McGeeVonetta McGee-Life and career:Vonetta McGee was born in San Francisco, to Alma and Lawrence McGee. She graduated from San Francisco Polytechnic High School and made her debut in 1968 as the eponymous character in the Italian comedy Faustina...
- Martin - Mario BregaMario BregaMario Brega was an Italian actor. His heavy build meant that he regularly portrayed a thug in his films particularly earlier in his career in westerns. Later in his career however, he featured in numerous Italian comedy films. Brega stood at and well over at his heaviest but after the 1960s...
- Governor - Carlo D'Angelo
- Regina - Marisa MerliniMarisa MerliniMarisa Merlini was an Italian character actress active in Italy's post-World War II cinema. Merlini appreared in over fifty films during her career, which spanned from World War II to 2005...
Background
The film was greatly inspired by two films: Day of the OutlawDay of the Outlaw
Day of the Outlaw is a 1959 film starring Robert Ryan and Burl Ives. It was directed by André De Toth; this film being his last Western feature film. Parts of it were filmed on location in snowy Bend, Oregon.-Plot:...
(1959), directed by Andre De Toth
André De Toth
André de Toth was a Hungarian-American filmmaker, born and raised in Makó, Csongrád, Kingdom of Hungary Austro-Hungarian Empire. He directed the 3-D film House of Wax, despite being unable to see in 3-D himself, having lost an eye at an early age. He is known for his gritty B movies in the western...
and Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath (film)
The motion picture Black Sabbath, whose Italian title, I Tre volti della paura, translates as The Three Faces of Fear, is a 1963 Italian horror film directed by Mario Bava. Boris Karloff, in addition to appearing in the linking passages, has a role in "The Wurdalak" segment...
(1963), directed by Mario Bava
Mario Bava
Mario Bava was an Italian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer remembered as one of the greatest names from the "golden age" of Italian horror films.-Biography:Mario Bava was born in San Remo, Liguria, Italy...
. Day of the Outlaw was a black-and-white western starring Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
and set in the snowbound town of Bitters, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, disrupted in the film by the arrival of seven outlaws on the run from the cavalry with a stolen army payroll. The segment from Bava's Black Sabbath titled 'Wurdulak' was also an inspiration for the film. "A nobleman, Count Vladimir D'Urfe (Mark Damon
Mark Damon
Mark Damon is an American film actor and producer. He started his career in his native country, appearing in such films as Young and Dangerous and Roger Corman's House of Usher...
) discovers the headless corpse of Alibek (a Turkish bandit) in the snowbound mountains on his way to Yessey. He takes it to a nearby peasant house, where he finds a family living in fear. Their father, an old man named Gorka (Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
) has been hunting for the bandit for days and is due back at ten o'clock that night; Alibek is a wurdulak (a vampire): 'a cadaver always seeking blood'. If Gorka hasn't returned by the appointed hour, his family must kill him, as he has been vampirised too." The film also draws from the basic theme of A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
(1964) in that there are "warring factions fighting over a town."
As in Django Sergio Corbucci again used medieval motifs of witch craze
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
. Also, the film bristles with catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
motifs.
With this film, Sergio Corbucci brought together different approaches of the spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
genre with highly political themes from contemporary history. On the one hand, the main hero is not only close-lipped, he is mute. The muteness of Trintignant is a joke, which is typical for Corbucci. Because a western hero never talks much, Corbucci exaggerates this genre-typical must and depicts the main hero as a mute. Besides the end, another aspect is the emphasis on law and its organs. For example, Klaus Kinski as the villain mentions several times that he has not violated a single law. This is clarified by the Ahasuerus
Ahasuerus
Ahasuerus is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible, as well as related legends and Apocrypha. This name is applied in the Hebrew Scriptures to three rulers...
figure of the justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, played by Luigi Pistilli
Luigi Pistilli
Luigi Pistilli was an Italian actor of stage, screen, and television. In theater, he was considered one of the country's best interpreters of Bertolt Brecht's plays in The Threepenny Opera and St Joan of the Stockyards....
, who is the merchant of the village too.
Here, the double-dealing zeitgeist
Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The...
becomes clear: the actions of the state and its law are controlled by Capital (economics)
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
. Even the demonstration of this aspect was perceived as criticism on America and capitalism. Because of its interpretation, the law fails as a moral instance. With its law, the state only protects the property and rewards bounty instead of supporting the people themselves. Pure privation forces the people to steal in order to survive. But because of the inevitable criminal act, they become criminals who are chased by bounty hunters in order to ensure law and order. Thus, the "evil" bounty hunters are those who ensure law and order, whilst the "poor" are fought as lawbreakers.
Silence himself is not a saviour. In fact, Corbucci provides Silence with a reason for his acting (a traumatic childhood experience), but he also lets Pauline explicitly mention that Silence claims the same sum for killing Loco as Loco received for killing Pauline's husband. And Silence also cleverly interprets the law in order to perform a contract killing under the cloak of self-defense.
In spite of this fact, Silence, like other heroes in spaghetti westerns, functions as a role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
and sympathetic character for the audience. From that point of view, it is a remarkable consequence of Corbucci, that he lets Loco triumph. All sympathetic characters, as well as the defenseless hostages, are killed in cold blood.
Corbucci dedicated the story about a good man, who dies in a barbaric hell, to the memory of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, Martin Luther King, and Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
. The reference to Che Guevara and Jesus becomes apparent by the destruction of Silence's hands. Jesus was nailed on the cross and the hands of dead Che Guevara were sent to Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
in a preserving jar. Corbucci previously used the motif of the destroyed hands in Django
Django (film)
Django is a 1966 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero in the eponymous role. The film earned a reputation as being one of the most violent films ever made up to that point and was subsequently refused a certificate in Britain until 1993, when it was...
. This symbolism is intended to point out the impossibility of the revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
, because the execution of Silence does not save the hostages, just as Che Guevara's assassination did not change mankind significantly.
The film is understood as a critical answer to For a Few Dollars More
For a Few Dollars More
For a Few Dollars More is a 1965 Italian spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Gian Maria Volonté. German actor Klaus Kinski also plays a supporting role as a secondary villain...
by Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
, who depicted the bounty hunters uncritically, almost naïvely.
Therefore, Corbucci proceeded in a very sociological manner and created the first part of a trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
, which deals with the topic "revolution". While the impossibility of revolution was pointed out in The Great Silence, the topic was picked up again and solutions were pointed out in the films The Mercenary
The Mercenary (film)
The Mercenary , also known as A Professional Gun, is a 1968 spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Corbucci. The film stars Franco Nero, Jack Palance, Tony Musante and Giovanna Ralli, and features a musical score by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai...
and Compañeros
Compañeros
Compañeros is an Italian Zapata-themed spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Corbucci in 1970. The film stars Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Jack Palance and Fernando Rey...
.
The Great Silence is considered a cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
that is convincing because of its complexity. In fact, while the political aspect has sometimes overlooked in subsequent decades, the film is still looked at by many as a high water mark for the Euro-western genre.
The Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n director Michael Haneke
Michael Haneke
Michael Haneke is a German born Austrian filmmaker and writer best known for his bleak and disturbing style. His films often document problems and failures in modern society. Haneke has worked in television‚ theatre and cinema. He is also known for raising social issues in his work...
is a great fan of the film too and refers to the ending as unique. The only piece with a similar plot structure coming to his mind, is Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
.
Reportedly, Jean-Louis Trintignant only agreed to play in a spaghetti western under the condition that he did not have to learn any lines for the role. That's why the main character conveniently became a mute in the story.
Production
Location shooting took place in the Italian DolomitesDolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...
, around the ski resorts of Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo is a town and comune in the southern Alps located in Veneto, a region in Northern Italy. Located in the heart of the Dolomites in an alpine valley, it is a popular winter sport resort known for its ski-ranges, scenery, accommodations, shops and après-ski scene...
(Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
) and San Cassiano in Badia. It was also shot at Bracciano Lake, near Manziana
Manziana
Manziana is a comune in the Province of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about 40 km northwest of Rome.Manziana borders the following municipalities: Bracciano, Canale Monterano, Oriolo Romano, Tolfa.-External links:* *...
in Lazio and the Elios town set in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
was used for several of the Snow Hill scenes (including two nights sequences and the build-up to the final duel).
The scenes were shot at night so that the fake "snow" looked more convincing; shaving foam was used to give the street a snowbound look. For the daylight scenes, the Elios set was swathed in fog, to disguise the fact that the surrounding countryside had no snow.
Impact
Currently a musical project by the FinnishFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Progressive Music Association is running, which encourages bands and musical artists to musically interpret the film. The Spaghetti Epic 3 The Hungarian progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Yesterdays
Yesterdays (band)
Yesterdays is a Hungarian symphonic progressive rock band based in Cluj Napoca, Romania.Its musical style has been compared by various reviewers to Yes , Quidam , Pat Metheny, Anna Maria Jopek , Eclipse and Genesis - Biography :...
wrote a 20 minutes long epic called Suite Pauline based on the main character's story (this song is also featured on the Spaghetti Epic 3 CD). Anima Morte also recorded a version of the main theme for the Cani Arrabbiati - Opening themes tribute compilation.
The music by Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
was later sampled by Thievery Corporation
Thievery Corporation
Thievery Corporation is a Washington, D.C. based recording artist and DJ duo consisting of Rob Garza, Eric Hilton, and their supporting artists, including current drummer Jeff Franca...
. The grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
band Cripple Bastards
Cripple Bastards
Cripple Bastards is a grindcore band from Asti, Italy. They were formed in 1988 in order to keep their area on the hardcore map as most of the other bands around them were breaking up....
released an album with the same title.
External links
- Parts of this article were translated from the German article, especially from this version.