Christ Stopped at Eboli [Cristo si è fermato a Eboli] ***** (1979, Gian Maria Volontè, Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny, Lea Massari, Irene Papas) – Classic Movie Review 8,605

Francesco Rosi’s 1979 Italian drama film Christ Stopped at Eboli [Cristo si è fermato a Eboli] is based on the book by Carlo Levi, a political dissident exiled under Fascism. Gian Maria Volonté stars as Levi and Lea Massari plays Luisa Levi..

Director Francesco Rosi’s engrossing 1979 drama Christ Stopped at Eboli [Cristo si è fermato a Eboli] stars Gian Maria Volonté as Italian painter, writer and doctor Carlo Levi, who in 1935 is exiled for his anti-Fascist views to the remote South of Italy, in a region near Eboli, where he is interested in and frustrated by the local peasants, but learns to appreciate them.

Christ Stopped at Eboli [Christo Si E Fermato a Eboli] is brim-full of authentic local mountain village colour, fascinating characters, period detail and political insight. But best of all is Volonté ’s superbly intricate and compelling performance as the exiled political dissident, followed by Lea Massari in support as Luisa Levi.

The screenplay by Francesco Rosi, Tonino Guerra and Raffaele La Capria is based on Levi’s book.

It won the 1983 BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and was the first to receive a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

It won the David di Donatello Award for Best Film (Miglior Film), tied with The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) and To Forget Venice (1979). It was a very good year for Italian films.

It runs 155 minutes but the TV version runs to 240 minutes.

Also in the cast are Alain Cuny, Paolo Bonacelli, Lea Massari, Irene Papas, and François Simon.

Lea Massari won the Nastro d’Argento award for Best Supporting Actress.

It was shot in Basilicata in the villages of Craco, Guardia Perticara, Aliano and La Martella, near Matera, as well as in Gravina in Puglia and Santeramo in Colle, Apulia.

Christ Stopped at Eboli [Cristo si è fermato a Eboli] is directed by Francesco Rosi, runs 155 minutes or 240 minutes, is made by Vides Cinematografica, RAI 2, Action Films and Gaumont, is released by Titanus (1979) (Italy), Gaumont (1979) (France), Franklin Media (1980) (US) (subtitled) and Artificial Eye (1982) (UK) (subtitled), is written by Francesco Rosi, Tonino Guerra and Raffaele La Capria, based on Carlo Levi’s book, is shot by Pasqualino de Santis, is produced by Franco Cristaldi and Nicola Carraro, and is scored by Piero Piccioni.

A remastered version was released in 2003 on DVD, and the film was reissued by Rialto Pictures in 2019 in the US.

The people of Gagliano say ‘Christ stopped short of here, at Eboli’, which means they feel they have been bypassed.

Lea Massari, born Anna Maria Massatani (30 June 1933 – 23 June 2025) is known in art cinema as the missing woman in Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura (1960) and as the mother in Louis Malle’s Souffle au Coeur [Murmur of the Heart] (1971). Her career includes Sergio Leone’s debut The Colossus of Rhodes [Il Colosso di Rodi] (1961), The Things of Life [Les choses de la vie] ( 1970) and Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli [Cristo si è fermato a Eboli] (1979), for which she won the Nastro d’Argento award for Best Supporting Actress.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,605

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