Film Review: Cabiria (1914)

Italian cinema industry has long and distinguished history, including relatively short period in 1950s and 1960s, when it was poised even to dethrone Hollywood as global cinema leader. Its influence on the rest of cinema world is incalculable, and it included creation of many new styles, movements and genres. One of the earliest examples is Cabiria, 1914 silent film written and directed by Giovanni Pastrone, which is often considered to be the first true epic in history of cinema.

The plot is loosely inspired by two novels - Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert and Chartage in Flames by Emilio Saligari – and takes place at the end 3rd Century BC, during Second Punic War. The film is divided in five episodes, and the first begins in Sicilian city of Catana where wealthy Batto (played by Émile Vardannes) lives with his 8-year old daughter Cabiria (played by Carolina Catena). When Etna erupts, subsequent earthquake damages Batto’s villa and some of his servants find secret passage and use opportunity to steal Batto’s treasure. One of them is Croessa (played by Gina Marangoni) who also takes young Cabiria with her. Fleeing servants, including Croessa and Cabiria, are captured by Phoenician pirates and sold as slaves in Carthage. There Cabiria is selected by high priest Khartalo (played by Dante Testa) to be among hundred children to be sacrificed to god Molloch. She is saved from that fate by timely arrival of Roman spy Fulvio Axilla (played by Umberto Mozzato) and his huge black servant Maciste (played by Bartolomeo Pagano). They manage to free her and leave her to care of Sophonisba (played by Italia Almirante-Manzini), daughter of Chartaginian general Hasdrubal (played by Edoardo Davesnes). Maciste is however captured and spends next ten years working as a slave. Fulvio Axilla was, in the meantime, officer in Roman fleet besieging Syracuse, and when the fleet is destroyed by deadly “heat rays” invented by Archimedes (played by Enrico Gemmelli), Fulvio washes ashore and is brought to Batto’s house where Batto learns that his daughter came to Carthage. When Roman general Scipio Africanus (played by Luigi Chellini) invades North Africa, Fulvio uses opportunity to free Maciste and inquire about Cabiria’s fate. She is now known as “Elissa” (played by Lidia Quaranta), Sophonisba’s servant. Sophonisba, who loved pro-Roman Numidian king Massinissa (played by Vitale Di Stefano) was instead forced to marry Syphax (played by Alesandro Bernard), pro-Chartagian prince of Cirte and Elissa/Cabiria finds in that city when it gets besieged by Massinissa’s troops.

Like all major films of its period, Cabiria must be viewed by audience aware of technical limitations of its age. However, even with black-and-white cinematography and lack of sound taken into consideration, Pastrone’s film doesn’t look like a groundbreaking technical achievement. Pastrone’s only innovation, which was later copied by many film makers, was the use of dolly shots which were later nicknamed “Cabiria shots”. It is, however, used very sparingly in the film. Pastrone still prefers traditional static shots with very little editing. However, it is what Pastrone fills these shots with what makes Cabiria look impressive, even for viewers today. In an attempt to reconstruct ancient past as accurately and spectacularly as possible, Cabiria features not only large number of extras, plenty of exotic costumes and large sets used for villas, palaces, temples, streets and city walls. The latter, due to special effects being quite primitive, had to be replicated in the original size and it can only be imagined how breathtaking it all looked to audiences more than century ago. Furthermore, lack of special effects and modern optical tricks meant that Pastrone had to rely on stunt work. The battle scene during the siege of Cirte, which features dozens of soldiers with ladders trying to storm the walls only to be tossed away to the ground, looks incredibly realistic and was probably extremely dangerous part of production.

Pastrone’s skills as screenwriter, on the other hand, are here too, although not that impressive. On one hand, he succeeds into connecting various characters and subplots into coherent whole. On the other hand, some of the scenes, like Hannibal crossing the Alps (shot on actual Alpine locations with real life elephants), serve little purpose apart from allowing Pastrone to show off. Famous Italian writer Gabriele d’Annunzio was supposed to write screenplay, but in the end he agreed only to provide text for intertitles. Most of the characters aren’t particularly memorable, even including Cabiria, who appears as an adult relatively late in the film and is quite passive. That is, however, not the case with heroic Fulvio Axilla and Maciste, who both function as early version of action heroes. The latter, played by former Genoese dockworker Bartolomeo Pagano in what looks like blackface, establishes himself due to his impressive physique and ability to play physically demanding and dangerous scenes. Unsurprisingly, Maciste established himself as an icon of Italian silent cinema and later played Maciste in 25 silent films; the character was reintroduced in 1950s with many actors playing them in various
“sword and sandals” films.

Cabiria was in many ways product of its time, with its content matching the national euphoria in Italy following brief and succesful war against Ottoman Empire during which relatively freshly reunited country conquered Libya and began to reassert imperial glory for the first time since Roman times. Those sentiments, which would shorty after premiere engulf Italy into carnage of First World War and later give birth to Fascism, are clearly present in the film, especially in the end scene where Fulvio and Cabiria triumphantly sail back from Africa. Some of today’s critics and scholars are likely to view Cabiria as nationalist and imperialist propaganda, and the disturbing scene of children being sacrificed in temple of Moloch could easily be criticised as attack on non-European civilisations based on not too credible ancient sources. However, the film was deeply appreciated and enjoyed even by non-Italian audience while giving inspiration by countless ambitious film makers around the world. One of those was D. W. Griffith whose epic Intolerance, or to be precise, its Babylon segment, is clear and undoubtedly successful attempt to build and improve on what Pastrone started with Cabiria.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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