Addio zio Tom (1971)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

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:

Fake Documentary | Rat | Exploitation | Girl Man Relationship | Racism

Cast

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

Directed by
Gualtiero Jacopetti
Franco Prosperi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gualtiero Jacopetti		writer
Franco Prosperi		writer

Produced by
Gualtiero Jacopetti	....	producer
Franco Prosperi	....	producer

Original Music by
Riz Ortolani

Cinematography by
Claudio Cirillo
Antonio Climati
Benito Frattari

Film Editing by
Gualtiero Jacopetti

Costume Design by
Kathryn Snedeker

Production Management
Annamaria Ambrosi	....	production supervisor: USA
Giampaolo Lomi	....	production manager
Marcello Tranchini	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Federico Abussi	....	assistant director
Giampaolo Lomi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Fausto Ancillai	....	sound mixer
Carlo Diotavelli	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Franco Abussi	....	camera operator (as Francesco Abussi)
Bruno Angeletti	....	chief electrician
Ennio Marzocchini	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lunella Surdi	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Ken Dewey	....	post-production: US version
Tom Kennedy	....	post-production: US version
Luciana Scandroglio	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Giorgio Agazzi	....	music editor

Other crew
Margherita Autuori	....	unit publicist (as Rossetti)
Enrico Lucherini	....	unit publicist (as Lucherini)
Matteo Spinola	....	unit publicist (as Spinola)

Production Companies

• Euro International Film (EIA)

Distributors

• Cannon Film Distributors (1972) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Cinecenta Film Distributors (1973) (UK) (theatrical) (as "Uncle Tom")
• Galinza Films S.A. (1980) (Spain) (theatrical) (as "Adiós Tío Tom")
• Blue Underground (2003) (USA) (DVD) (director's cut) (English version)
• Cinefear (????) (USA) (VHS)
• EuroVideo (????) (West Germany) (VHS) (as "Addio Onkel Tom")
• Spike K.K. (????) (Japan) (DVD) (as "Yakopetti no zankoku tairiku")
• Spike K.K. (????) (Japan) (VHS) (as "Yakopetti no zankoku tairiku")
• Video Classics Gold (????) (Australia) (VHS)
• Video Screen Play (VSP) (????) (Greece) (VHS) (as "Uncle Tom")

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)

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:

Referenced in Das geheime Kino (2007)

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.