Magia nuda

Had trouble watching this one. The obsession with bodily fluids went more than just a tad overboard. Although I personally am a fan of Mondo films, this one didn't make the "I wanna see it again" list. Supposedly, it also offended the unoffendable (Is that a word? It's my word now.) John Waters.

Since it came out in 1975 after the first Mondo wave, I get the impression the producers were just piling on the grossness. I won't go into detail here, (Some of you may be eating.) But some of those first scenes almost made ME puke. And I'm a card carrying fan of the Italian Cannibal-Zombie films. It had some decent cinematography. That's the one compliment I'll give it.

I must say I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I hoped I would. It was more on the voodoo and ritualistic side than any film by the makers of the "CANE" movies, but its candidness did appeal to me. However about an hour into it I lost interest and didn't finish the rest of it. Another thing is that it felt too fake, sometimes it was too obvious. But if you would like something to spark the imagination and have too much time on your hands, you'll like it.

This is an odd film. I originally had it in a Clamshell VHS tape format. The cover had a big cartoon eyeball and some other strange graphics like a man being hung by hooks. Wasn't sure what to expect. I think I was expecting more modern settings.

What you get in mostly primitive people and their use of "magic", which basically involves running around naked, animal slaughter, hurting each other, pee bathing, and suckling puppies, but mainly slaughtering animals.

It's actually a pretty interesting film. It's probably gross to people who are used to fast food, fast cars, and mortgage payments. A lot of the scenes in this film to me just seemed to be documentation of primitive people around the world and their day to day practices that seem gross to us because they are so different. It's hard to believe people lived like what was shown even in 1975. Some of the footage could very well have been from decades earlier than that.

If nothing else the flick serves as a time capsule of primitive people, with some goofy newer scene of things like psychic surgery throw in for good measure. I liked it. I've seen it 4 or 5 times over the years. It never fails to astound! It is how you say, Mucho Mondo!

Something of a misnomer as this is not 'world magic' or 'nude magic' but a dubious 1975 Italian feature length anthropological 'documentary' film from cinematographers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglione, with a text written by Alberto Moravia! , and narrated in english by Marc Mauro Smith. With 'When a Child is Born' as it's theme tune like a lot of Italian Mondo 'documentaries' this spends a considerable time looking at animal slaughter, including an elephant having it's eyes cut out, making this one of the rarest, most shocking, but also most boring of the 'Mondo' films. Most of the scenes take place among naked tribes in Africa, but there's also trips to the Amazon, and hand surgery in the Philippines. Not an edifying film.

MONDO MAGIC will make you lose your lunch. After spending considerable time with a filthy African tribe, the "producers" cross the water to find another equally filthy South American tribe. Animals are slaughtered, prepared and eaten by hand; bodily fluids and excreta are glorified and liberally distributed across the screen; nearly everybody is naked, nearly all the time.

The narrator says this is all tied in with "magic," but MONDO MAGIC is hardly a serious study of primitive magic or religion. It's more like a montage of disgusting scenes that are probably 100% authentic. (Circumcised African tribesmen don't shock me since the rite is ancient and originated in Africa, whence came the Israelites).

The Intermedia DVD version I saw this evening was "re-edited," and clocks in at 84 minutes -- the "sex magic" seems to have been cut from the film. Crude anatomy lessons are plentiful, however.