‘Our province is nice and full of oxygen and stop with those ugly things coming from Rome.’
A small town in the rural area of Treviso is experiencing mysterious power blackouts, and residents are reporting UFO sightings and close encounters with Martians. The local Police Sergeant doesn’t believe a word of it, but, after the media descends on the community, he is tasked with getting to the bottom of things…
Mildly amusing satirical ltalian comedy, which is not just a showcase for the talents of comedian Alberto Sordi, but a vanity project of sorts. The film was shot exclusively in his hometown and many of the crowd scenes seem to be populated with the real residents just going about their usual business. Sordi plays Police Sergeant Vincenzo Berruti, a stolid, unimaginative plodder who has no time for all these extraterrestrial shenanigans. However, by the end of the film, his investigations have brought him up close and personal with the spacecraft in question and its Martian crew. In one of the film’s best jokes, he accepts all this with the same lack of emotional reaction that he displays in his earlier disbelief.
Proceedings begin with the media’s invasion of the town, but there’s little evidence to back up their wild proclamations of first contact. Sure, there have been power outages and strange circles in crop fields, but eyewitnesses seem less than credible. A young child is more concerned with finding an excuse to escape the punishment promised by her father than providing accurate testimony of what she claims to have seen. A middle-aged housewife comes over as more sexually frustrated than reliable, what with her talk of a naked, well-endowed alien who she’s happy to confirm was definitely the male of whatever species he happens to belong to.
‘Who’s on First?’
But it soon becomes obvious that these space-suited beings are the real deal. One of them even pops round to take a spot of tea with widowed farmer Silvana Mangano and her brood of unruly kids. This charming domestic scene is observed by the local priest (Sordi, again), but no-takes him seriously due to his close relationship with the products of the local vineyard.
Mangano then ‘sells’ the Martian to local aristocrat Count Crosara (Sordi, yet again), but her brand new furs and motor car are confiscated by Sordi (as the Police Sergeant this time). By this point, he’s hot on the trail after convincing testimony from an accountant (and yes, he’s played by Sordi as well!) who has been carrying out regular inspections of barn interiors with the Mayor’s glamorous wife (Monica Vitti).
As the film progresses, it becomes pretty clear that the science fiction element is merely a plot device to allow Sordi to poke fun at various small town archetypes: the drunken priest, the self-serving Mayor, his young sexpot wife, the slow-witted policeman, and the vaguely mad posh people who live in the big house on the hill. This means that there is very little plot development as such, and the aliens do nothing more than wander about a bit and get mistaken for revellers in fancy dress at the local carnival. Beyond being identified as Martians, we never find out anything about them or what they want.
There’s also a very odd sequence where Sordi (playing the accountant this time) is subjected to electroshock therapy after being committed to the local asylum. Now, a patient receiving ECT (it’s now known as electro-convulsive therapy) is not really my idea of comedy gold and director Tinto Brass drags the sequence out with some fairly nightmarish visuals. Perhaps it just goes to prove that comedy and good taste do have national boundaries!
‘No idea who these two weirdos are, but look at me! I’m in a movie!’
Sordi was a top-flight star in Italy for many years, and enjoyed international recognition; winning a Golden Globe for ‘Il Diavolo’ (1963) and appearing prominently in the multi-starring ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965)’ along with Terry-Thomas, James Fox, Robert Morley and Gert Fröbe.
Vitti was thrust onto the global stage as ‘Modesty Blaise’ (1966) opposite Terence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde by director Joseph Losey, but remained in continental Europe after the film flopped. She was already a star there after appearing in several projects for famous director Michaelangelo Antonioni. Brass is still renowned for his many excursions into erotica, but ironically is still most famous for the notorious ‘Caligula’ (1979), even though the film was taken out of his hands and had the hard core content inserted afterwards by producer Bob Guccione.
A decent light comedy with a satirical slant that would have benefited greatly from more attention to its overall story development.
Mark David Welsh 