The Lice and the Whale: Filmmakers, Militant Cinema, and the Italian Communist Party

Abstract

This chapter offers an analysis of some of the films that were produced within the Italian militant cinema movement, between the late 1960s and the early 1970s, with a particular focus on those produced by Unitelefilm. It argues that the development of militant cinema in Italy should be read in the context of the PCI’s struggle to maintain political hegemony by the working class, which resulted in clashes with student groups and radical left-wing intellectuals. Important artist such as Pier Paolo Pasolini and Marco Bellocchio were involved in production of militant films for the far left. Their involvement was the outcome of the political crisis many former PCI intellectuals were experiencing at the time.