Christ Stopped at Eboli

Parts 3 & 4

On the occasion of the exhibit Blind Visions: Carlo Levi’s Disegni della Cecità, on view at Casa Italiana through December 13.

Screening of parts 3 and 4 of the 4-part television movie:

Christ Stopped at Eboli [Cristo si è fermato a Eboli]
(Italy/France, 1979, 110 of 220 min.)
In ITALIAN with ENGLISH subtitles

Directed by Francesco Rosi
Written by Francesco Rosi, Tonino Guerra, Raffaele La Capria
Based on the novel by Carlo Levi
Starring Gian Maria Volontè, Paolo Bonacelli, Lea Massari, Irene Papas

Introduced by Prof. Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University.

Carlo Levi (Gian Maria Volontè), a painter, writer, doctor, and intellectual, is exiled to Grassano, an impoverished town with only one car and one toilet, in southern Italy. Levi learns to find the humanity in this seemingly backward hamlet. Made for Italian television in four 55-minute parts, it was cut in half for its 1980 U.S. release (to 2 hours — Rosi’s own theatrical cut was 2½) and senselessly re-titled Eboli. This newly restored version by Rialto Pictures is Rosi’s complete, uncut epic.

From the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo.