Genre: Myths

In this modern reworking of the drama of Sophocles’ Antigone, set in the city of Milan, a totalitarian government attemps to quash any form of rebellion by banning the burial of citizens killed by the regime’s police. The omnipresent opression of the regime – with people going about their every day lives stepping over the corpses that litter the streets – is challenged by Antigone, who is determined to bury her dead brother’s body…

Pier Paolo Pasolini electrifies the myth of Medea (seduced and betrayed by Jason, she takes drastic measures to extract her revenge) with a mixture of ritual theatre and social anthropology. Maria Callas is riveting in the title role, giving a profoundly expressive performance as the deranged sorceress. Under Pasolini’s direction, the plight of colonised cultures is symbolised by Medea as she surrenders to the foreign intruder, betrays the secrets of her people and, in doing so, is driven to madness and murder.