Subject
The scene is from the 1981 film “La pelle” (The Skin) by Liliana Cavani, based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by journalist and officer Kurt Erich Suckert, also known by the pen-name of Curzio Malaparte. The film describes the horrors of Naples in 1943-1944, amidst misery and rubble, as well as the excesses of a city just liberated from Nazi-Fascist occupation. Having departed from Naples, in this clip we see the soldiers and vehicles of the US Fifth Army arriving at Rome, on 4 June 1944. Marcello Mastroianni plays the part of the boastfully exaggerating Malaparte, as he guides the allies and recounts the scenes, with great creativity, to General Mark Cork (Burt Lancaster). As Malaparte lists the names of illustrious persons “imaginarily” entombed along the famous stretch of road, the column pauses at the circular mausoleum known as Casal Rotondo, and then continues towards the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella.
A custom of the wealthier Romans was to place their tombs along roadsides beyond the city walls. Here the passers-by, while admiring the structures, could read the funerary inscriptions and enliven the memory of the deceased. The placement of a tomb on an important artery such as the Via Appia was a sign of social status, and for passers-by, the monumentality of the burial emphasised the prestige of the owning family.
Director
Liliana Cavani
Year
1981
