CABIRIA

(1914)
Giovanni Pastrone

Cabiria is an epic film which was shot partially in Turin Italy and also in the Alps. It is considered one of, if not the first, epic film. The film, like most epics, deals with an historical event as its background (in this case the second Punic war) and sets a personal story against that background. Compare this with Gone with the Wind

Like many epics it also features some spectacular sets and special effects. In this film the eruption of Mount Etna in Scicily and the scenes in the Temple of Moloch fill the bill. admirably.

The film is known for its use of a moving camera, something which impressed enough people that the term "Cabiria shot" became a short hand way of describing a shot where the camera moves to follow the action. Some writers have pointed out that this meandering camera is more a gimmick than not, in that it often moves for no apparent reason and sometimes away from the action. Whatever the case, the moving camera made an impact on people like D.W. Griffith who is reported to have altered the way he was shooting Intollerence at the time.

The film. like Birth of a Nation was criticized for its political stand. As is pften the case, films reflect the time periods in which they are made and Cabiria is no exception to the rule. Italy had been involved in a war which was known in Italy as "The Libyan War" (Guerra di Libia). Since the war deals with similar locations to those of the second Punic War, parallels were inevitable, Parallels between Italy's Roman past and the contemporary Italy of 1914 were obvious along with the "demonization" of the Libyans by paralleling them with the barbaric worshippers of Molach.

The film is also know for the first appearance of a character named Maciste/Machiste, played by a stevadore named Bartolemeo Pagano who went on to play the popular character in more than 25 more films ubntil 1928. Pagano legally changed his name to Machiste. The character was revivied in a 1960 film called Maciste della valle dei Re (Machiste in the Valley of the Kings) where he was portrayed by American body builder Mork Forest., who played the character several more times, as did a number of other body builders in the "Sword and Sandal" films of the 1950's.