Synopsis
Riccetto (Ninetto Davoli) walks through the streets of Rome, chatting with passers-by and dancing, a large paper flower in his hands. Images of wars, genocides, social protests, heads of state and revolutionary heroes are superimposed on his carefree walk, while a voice-over - the voice of God - urges him to become aware of the world. Since Riccetto does not listen, God punishes him for his unconsciousness.
A word from Tënk
To celebrate the centenary of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s birthday and the tenth anniversary of the 2012 student movement in Quebec, Tënk brings you two films produced almost fifty years apart, in two contexts of revolt against capitalist violence and the state, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Paper Flower Sequence (1969) and Insurgence by the Collectif Épopée (2013).
The Paper Flower Sequence that Pasolini shot in one day in Rome with Ninetto Davoli was made in 1968, in a period marked by a movement of protest and radicalization, of which cinema took parti in. However, this short film is not in itself a militant film: it is Pasolini's contribution to a collective film (Amore e rabbia), a French-Italian co-production in which the five authors (beside Pasolini, Bertolucci, Bellocchio, Godard and Lizzani) were asked to review the Gospel from a secular perspective. Pasolini, while responding to this request, offers a powerful reflection on the necessity of commitment and of taking a stand on "the most important and dangerous things that happen in the world". He does this by addressing the question of innocence, starting with a parable, that of the Barren Fig Tree, which he interprets as follows: "There are moments in history when one cannot be innocent, one must be conscious. To not be conscious means to be guilty ".
Rosanna Maule
Professor of Film Studies
Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Concordia University
With the support of
