Addio zio Tom (1971)

Directors:

Gualtiero Jacopetti
Franco Prosperi

Writers:

Gualtiero Jacopetti (writer)
Franco Prosperi (writer)

Release Date:

30 September 1971 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

300 years of hate explode today!

Plot:

Two documentary filmmakers go back in time to the pre-Civil War American South, to film the slave trade. |

Plot Keywords:

Rat | Humiliation | Fake Documentary | Rape | Beach

Cast

Gualtiero Jacopetti	...	Himself
Franco Prosperi	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Farewell Uncle Tom (Australia) (video box title)
Goodbye Uncle Tom (International: English title)
Uncle Tom (International: English title)
White Devil: Black Hell (USA) (X-rated version)
Zio Tom (Italy) (alternative title)
Addio, Onkel Tom! (West Germany) [de]
Adiós tío Tom (Spain) [es]
Adjö människan (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Farvel, onkel Tom (Denmark) [da]
Hyvästi ihminen (Finland) [fi]
Les négriers (Canada: French title) [fr]

Runtime:

136 min | Australia:128 min | Canada:103 min (Québec) | UK:94 min | USA:123 min | Argentina:108 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | UK:X (heavily cut) | USA:X (heavily cut) | Finland:K-18 (heavily cut) (1976) | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Italy:VM18 | Spain:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Florida, USA

Company:

Euro International Film (EIA)

Trivia:

DECAMERONE NERO German Import DVD has a Super-8mm Version of "Goodbye Uncle Tom", (German Audio only) as a special feature on the disc.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Godfathers of Mondo (2003) (V)

powerful, sometimes shocking

Not exactly a "humanitarian masterpiece" as someone else said (yeah right!). More like cryptic super-exploitation. This is wildly, hilariously, rollickingly misguided pseudo-history at best. Outright race-baiting at worst. Made by the sleazoids who barfed up "Africa Addios" (giving Africans their own country back so soon just wasn't the right idea, was it!!), a film that featured the genuinely bizarre white South African girls on trampolines montage. A fervent call-to-arms for African-Americans made by white Europeans must inherently ring false, I am afraid. (we enslaved you. kill us!) Manages to be both numbing and completely, hideously insulting at the same time.

The film is, under its very "SO racist it isn't being racist" exterior a sly work of racism. Presents blacks as nothing more than animals and savages, capable only of violence or submission to the will of whites. All the while remaining mute and mindless. No African-American in the film is presented as having a personality, substance, or intelligence. Every white all but glows. Every caucasian is a verbose, mercurial, immaculate sprite.

That said, the film does (I would assume) approximate the way Africans were treated during the slave era more closely than other films. In that respect it deserves respect. The conditions are shown as filthy, disgusting, cruel. Every imaginable indignity is portrayed (and some you probably could not imagine).

However, the film does have some power. The camera work is very inventive and the directors handle some of the chaotic scenes around the plantation very well. Some of the imagery is genuinely striking. There's a general feeling of chaos that comes through that's very effective. I'm not sure what the point is. But it's effective.

Anyway, see the movie if you really want to be grossed out and insulted. File this one under SUPER exploitation. The directors may have had good intentions when they started out, but I think they just lost it when they got onto the set and decided to see how far out they could go. And no one, it seemed, was around to tell them to tone it down or put on the breaks. This is up there with Cannibal Holocaust and Men Behind the Sun. It's that sort of a deal.

But don't kid yourselves, this AIN'T no humanitarian masterpiece.