Canadian Film Digest (Jun 1973)

a Page 12 Cannes Report (conva) June 1973 ~ Connie Tadros (left) and Marcia Covelle, information officers at the Cinema Canada booth at the Palais des Festivals. Aysuiqeig “5 :ojoyd The Warner studios also livened the festival with its 50th Anniversary celebrations which included the showing of Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino, The Last of Sheila, with James Coburn, Dyan Cannon and James Mason, and a special anniversary film, The Movies that Made Us, consisting of scenes from famous Warner films between 1923 and 1973. Taking care of the 150 invited journalists and moving them around the festival was a difficult job, made easier by the untiring efforts of Al Dubin from the Toronto office of Warners, together with his associates from New York and the coast. Te photo: G. Drabinsky j Robert Desjardins at the Cinema Canada office. The Canadian Film Digest Canada did well at Cannes this year. Not only were the four films in the official programs well liked (La Mort D'‘un Bucheron, Kamaraska, Wedding in White and Rejanne Padovani) but the organization of the Canadian delegation was excellent, and the running of the if, Famous Players President George Destounis Spencer relax during the Cannes Festival. Franco Zeffirellion Brother Sun Sister Moon by Jonathan Braun and Marc Mishaan Some writers and theologians have described + ° St. Francis of Assisi as the first dropout. But to _, movie director Franco Zeffirelli the founder of the Roman Catholic order of Franciscan monks has always been a “‘friend.’’ Now, Paramount Pictures has released Zeffirelli’s cinematic tribute to his friend. It’s called Brother Sun, Sistér Moon and it is Zeffirelli’s first film since the widely acclaimed Romeo and Juliet. “I’ve been an admirer of many people,”’ says Zeffirelli, ‘‘but Francis has particularly appealed to me because of his simplicity.” A versatile, creative artist who has designed and directed numerous productions for both opera and theatre, Zeffirelli was born in Florence, Italy on February 12, 1924. His childhood and adolescent years were chaotic. His mother died at an early age, and as a youth he served with the Partisans during World War II and later with the English liberation army as an interpreter. After the war, Zeffirelli studied architecture at the University of Florence until 1947 when he decided to embark on a theatrical career. In 1965 Zeffirelli launched his film career with The Taming of the Shrew, which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Two years later, he established himself as an internationally respected director with Romeo and Juliet. Although Brother Sun, Sister Moon is Zeffirelli’s first film that is not based on a Shakespearean classic, it too has the qualities of a classical story. “In a way,” explains Zeffirelli, “the picture is a fable, a fairy tale; but it’s also absolutely historical. It’s a story that had to be told.’’ Why did you make your third film on the life of Sts Francis of Assisi? To begin with, I didn’t intend to make a picture about a saint. I’ve always found saints to be very antipatico. I wouldn’t like to spend time in a Saint’s company. I mean, I would probably feel very uneasy if I ran into St. Augustine on a jumbo jetliner. But with Francis of Assisi it’s entirely different. Francis is a friend. He’s always been that familiar, friendly image for me — the friend that we always long to have and unfortunately very seldom do have — the friend of our childhood, our best years — that kind of man. Why is Francis so different from other saints? _He has this special appeal to people. He talks simply, in the language of the people. You know, he never did a miracle, which is really a marvelous asset for a saint. He never had to perform a miracle the people didn’t need one because they felt him as one of their own. His image was that of asimple friend who knew the right answers, the right things to do at the right time. He never bothered to intrude in anyone's life. Instead, he said, ‘‘Well, if you don’t follow me just open your eyes to life around. you and you'll be happy.” He offered people a simple but constructive solution: be free and happy and see the world around you. So wigs hi Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Some people might see Francis as more of a dropout than someone offering any kind of constructive solution to life’s problems. What is a dropout? In many ways we are all dropouts and in many ways nobody’s a dropout because even the so-called pure dropout is still dependent upon a certain economic and social structure for his survival. I think dropout is a label we have invented for journalistic reasons. It’s a term used to cover those people — and they’re usually young — who refuse the structures of society and say, ‘‘Let me find a new way of life — starting from scratch.’’ In that sense Francis was a dropout. He said, “No, this society is not for me. There must be something better; let me find my own way.” So he started from scratch. He stripped naked in a square of his town and returned his clothes to his father and said, ‘‘I give back to you all that belongs to you, all your possessions, even your name. Leave me alone. I want to find my own way — and] literally start naked, like the day I was born.” Ata time when the movies receiving the most attention are violent, sexy movies — like ‘‘The Godfather”’ and ‘‘Last Tango in Paris’’ — do you think ‘Brother Sun, Sister Moon’’ runs counter to the trend? I don’t know. I don’t like to make comparisons. I think the films you’ve mentioned are very important in today’s search for identity and values. I also think they’ve been misunderstood by most people. The Godfather is really a very healthy film. It’s not about crime or violence, but about family life. Families today are disintegrating all over the place. The Godfather brought back the idea that if you want to kill my father you’ll have to kill me first. I think that’s what attracted people to The Godfather — the idea of creating a community, a tribal community to which you belong and kill for to protect your kinsmen. It’s very appealing. Doesn’t your whole philosophy with regard to the role of beauty in film stand you apart from those who concentrate on the more ugly, grotesque sides of life? Again, I don’t like to make comparisons. I happen to think life is beautiful. Man is beautiful. Woman is beautiful. There is beauty all around us. It’s a powerful way to live if you're able to see beauty around yourself. Francis was overwhelmed by beauty. To him the beauty of creation was the word of God, the evidence that God existed. He thought to himself, ‘‘There can’t be all this beauty around me » without somebody who made it.” Through that simple philosophy he reached the idea of God. Do you consider yourself a religious person? Well, I don’t know. I believe in a certain spiritual substance in our life. I couldn’t live | without believing in it. “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”’ vividly contrasts the dazzling wealth of the established medieval Church with the wretched poverty of the masses who flocked to Francis. Are you concerned that the Church might be a bit upset with you as a result of this protrayal? I don’t really give a damn. The Church is a magnificent, extraordinary wealth of man, but it has become a supermarket of religion. At least, a certain part of the Church. I think you would be wrong if you thought that was true of the entire Church. Not at all. There are immense new strengths and spirits in the Church But if you talk about the organized, structuralized Church ... I put it exactly on the same level with the Pentagon. > What was it like to grow up in Italy during World War II? Were you influenced much by the events of your youth? You must realize that the best years of my life were crippled by a monstrosity called Fascism. When I was growing up we were taught to believe that Americans were monsters, that democracy was a horror, that the Jews were really those who crucified our Lord. I remember Jewish families — friends at school — disappearing overnight. I knew of a little child of three who was taught never to cry because she and her family were hidden in two rooms next to my apartment in Florence. So, it took extraordinary insight — a gift from God — to realize what was right and what was wrong. It takes a tremendous effort, you know, to open your eyes and see the truth. In a way, young people today don’t have this opportunity of having to decide if something is right or wrong. There is so much confusion today that everybody seems to be right and wrong at the same time. Could it be, then, that your emphasis on the beauty in life is a reaction to your turbulent childhood? You'd better tell me; I don’t know. It’s just that I think life is beautiful. Why make ugly things? You're quoted as saying that cinema shouldn’t drag life down the sink. What do you mean by that? I mean we shouldn’t drag life down the sink. Why should we? Not only in cinema — in all things we do in our lives. Why should we depress and humiliate ourselves? Why should we believe that every day is a black day? Anyhow, the person who does that — who indulges in the black side of life — is usually a hypocrite, because he’s the first to enjoy a vacation in the Bahamas. Would you be more comfortable closer to St. Francis — and away from the hustle and bustle of big cities? Wouldn’t we all be happier that way? But we know we can’t do it. That’s why we admire someone like Francis. He offers us a paradise that is not really accessible to us . . . Actually,. if you really want to know the truth, I’m much happier when I’m in contact with nature in . Stead of working in studios or being in terviewed by people like you. Do you consider American film-makers to be as sensitive as their European counterparts? Definitely — if not more so. The American cinema is the best cinema in the world. Americans are not as presumptious ‘as Europeans. They’re really much healthier and more positive than Europeans. In America money is money and entertainment is entertainment — but tears are also tears and laughter is laughter. Is it true that you prefer to work with young actors? In general, yes, because they are so much more sensitive and willing to gamble. In this profession if you don’t gamble you’re dead. What do you look for in a young actor? Eyes. I look for what goes on in an actor’s eyes — if he responds with his eyes, if he sees things. He has to have a vision of life in his eyes. Haven't you said that one of the problems today is that men no longer have a precise vision of life? How can you — when there is so much confusion around us, There are no ideals anymore, no more attractive ideals for anybody. What do you stand for? What do you work for? We are all longing to return to the simplest things. People are fed up with today’s world; they want to go back to something simple — something they can touch and believe in — and the privilege of saying, ‘‘I don’t like you,”’ or, “I like you.”” And if I like you, then we get together immediately and cut through all the unnecessary complications. That’s something I think Brother Sun, Sister Moon says beautifully. If it has no other merit it has that. A simple message: You are my brother — so let’s get together.