(1977, Italy, 90')
This is Monsieur Cannibale’s (the way his French fans call him) first foray into the cannibal world. It was the year 1977, and this film is part of the mondo movie line of films, which began in 1962 with Mondo cane (Cavara, Jacopetti, Prosperi). While many of these films were what may be called ‘extreme documentaries’, with some footage staged for better viewing, Deodato’s scenario is fictional, brutal, then made plausible and realistic.
Deodato’s later works were even more effective. Cannibal Holocaust is a mockumentary-within-fiction work of impressive realism. Shot in Malaysia in the harshest environments, Ultimo mondo cannibale (also known as Cannibal, Jungle Holocaust and The Last Survivor) is not for the faint of heart. One should expect a lot of gore. Everything is explicit, and Deodato slams it all in your face, unfiltered: cruelty and violence most savage as he takes us into an anthropophagic inferno. To survive, the protagonist must change from within and metabolize the same horror he had been subjected to. Lamberto Bava worked at the film as assistant director.
