Rightly seen as one of Pasolini's central works, Edipo Re
(Oedipus Rex) was his first filmic excursion into classical mythology;
however, it did follow his less sucessful, though more popular,
adaptation of the Christian myth of Jesus, Il Vangelo secondo Matteo
(the Gospel according to Mathew.) Clearly he meant this one to be seen as a
more personal work, given that he set the prologue in the year of his
own birth and modeled the Laio character therein after his father and
the Giocasta after his mom; and one can't help but note that his choice
of companion for the blinded Edipo wandering the contemporary industrial
roads of the epilogue is none other than Pasolini's companion Ninetto
Davoli. While political and mythic rather than psychological in his
approach to the story, Pasolini himself made no attempt to hide the fact
that he lived with his mother. In fact he was very open about his
devotion to her and his hatred of his father.
What one finds, though, in his Edipo, as embodied by Fraco Citti, is a
passionate, somewhat dishonest and thoughtless, young man who seems
determined to hurtle himself heroically along on a path to destruction,
taking all those understandably drawn to his handsome figure down with
him. Of course, that is not my view of Pasolini, but my interpretation
of his view of this great mythic character.
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