La colera del viento

Not far from directors like Elio Petri or Francesco Rosi, Mario Camus tells a story of growing social awareness when killer Marco comes to town, paid to shoot a man who wants to start a revolution. Watching his boss Don Antonio suppressing the working class, Marco soon regrets what he has done and joins the revolution. For the sake of drama, there is a beautiful lady to fall in love with and a brother who does not understand his change of motivation. It may not be extraordinary for 1970, but surely is a solid early work of its director.

The Spanish original title "La colera del viento" means "The Wrath of the Wind", and as Don Lucas quotes the biblical "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind" (Hosea 8,7) in the dialog, the connexion seems clear. However, in most countries, the distributors preferred titles similar to the successful "Trinita" comedies with Terence Hill, e.g. "Trinity Sees Red", even though "La colera del viento" is hardly intended for the same audience. The restored Spanish version for DVD runs 102 minutes instead of 93 like the old cinema print, which apparently was no censorship issue, merely a few dialog scenes which had been shortened. I personally didn't feel the film was too slow moving, it gives time to breathe and time to think. If you like watching Terence Hill in serious films, try "Il vero e il falso" by Eriprando Visconti next.