Fortini/Cani

The film centres on a book by Franco Fortini. The book is called I Cani del Sinai. Fortini is an Italian Jew. In the film he reads passages from his own book. What he reads is about his estrangement from Judaism. His estrangement from the social relations around him is in the text as well. The rise of fascism in Italy is another subject. So is the anti-Arab attitude of European culture. The images are mostly Italian landscapes. Those landscapes form a ground that carries the meaning of the text. Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet’s film, a coproduction of Italy, France, Britain, the United States and Germany, was completed in 1977.