1965
Written and Directed by Marco Bellocchio
Starring Lou Castel
With Paola Pitagora and Marino Mase
Watching Fists in the Pocket is like being thrown headlong into the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre as imagined by Italian neo-realists who are in love with the French New Wave. The film takes such unexpected turns into savagery, but never without a delirious wink. The movie is so simply shot, so lost in a world of pedestrian joy that when Lou Castel (the brutal protagonist) turns to matricide, it seems less because of the fact that he couldn't find a dance partner (as seen in a prior scene) but because he believes killing ones mother is about the same as sitting alone at a club--after all, both are simply put, things one does to pass the time.
Living out on the edge of some unnamed beach town, Fists tells the story of a mildly unhappy family who have become so isolated that they've begun the process of defining global relationships in the terms of family strife--brother and sister will hatch a secret treaty to protect themselves from those they must go to war with, while passive mental-handicap sibling mills around on the edges, finally slaughtered because global conquest requires the least players possible. As the movie reaches it's darkly cynical close with Lou Castel showcasing why the film made him a star, we realize not only that no one will be punished, but that they do not even know that they should be. Although it's not uncommon for films full of anti-heroes to dabble in cynical statements on the lack of clear justice, Fists refuses to even address it entirely, choosing to be as sociopathic and obsessed as it's surviving characters. While the credits roll, one sits back and realizes that not only does the director care about retribution, but neither do we--at least, not without the proper music.
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