The Hawks and the Sparrows

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

2019 / 91min / DCP

A populist by inclination, always enormously interested in the folk aspects of mass popular culture, Pasolini leapt at the chance to work with the widely beloved comic actor Totò, appearing opposite Pasolini favorite Ninetto Davoli as father and son in this comic time-travel fable, which sees the duo travel back to the age of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals. “I chose Totò because of his double nature,” said Pasolini. “On the one hand he is a Neapolitan, and on the other a straightforward clown. Put together, these two characteristics served me to form the character I needed.”