Caesar Must Die (2013)
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 43
Fresh: 39 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 1,001
My Rating
Movie Info
Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Caesar Must Die deftly melds narrative and documentary in a transcendently powerful drama-within-a-drama. The film was made in Rome's Rebibbia Prison, where the inmates are preparing to stage Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. After a competitive casting process, the roles are eventually allocated, and the prisoners begin exploring the text, finding in its tale of fraternity, power and betrayal parallels to their own lives and
Feb 6, 2013 Limited
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Cast
-
Cosimo Rega
Himself/Cassius -
Salvatore Striano
Bruto, Himself/Brutus -
Giovanni Arcuri
Cesare, Himself/Caesar -
Antonio Frasca
Himself/Mark Anthony, M... -
Juan Dario Bonetti
Decio, Himself/Decius -
Vittorio Parrella
Himself/Casca -
Rosario Majorana
Himself/Metellus -
Vincenzo Gallo
Himself/Lucius -
Francesco de Masi
Himself/Trebonius -
Gennaro Solito
Himself/Cinna -
Francesco Carusone
Himself/Fortune-teller -
Fabio Rizzuto
Himself/Strato -
Maurilio Giaffreda
Ottavius -
Cosimo Raga
Cassio
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Caesar Must Die Trailer & Photos
All Critics (43) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (4)
A film somewhere between documentary and neo-realist drama.
Top CriticThere's barely a wasted moment in the film, which runs a brisk 76 minutes and contains no female roles.
There's an intensity and emotional accuracy to the performances that's just stunning, particularly Striano's Brutus, as he longs for death and release.
It's an arresting, playful and moving film ...
Prison theatricals are nothing new in the movies, but Caesar Must Die, a quasi-documentary featuring hardened convicts acting out Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, is in a class by itself.
Ranks among the most involving adaptations of Shakespeare ever put on screen ...
Destined to lose years in prison, the actors seem to take pride -- and solace -- in their association with something as seemingly immortal as Shakespeare's words.
As they find issues and themes they can relate to, the action is never remotely static despite the frequent nature of the close-ups and the plastic sword.
The problem with the film, which somewhat inexplicably won the Golden Bear at Berlin last year, is that it scarcely transcends the basic novelty of its premise.
Profoundly moving.
The juxtaposition of Shakespearean text and prison cell life is a particularly poignant one.
It is difficult to understand exactly where documentary ends and fiction begins, but the finale, again in colour, of the triumphant first night of the production can't fail to move.
It's never anything less than interesting, though I felt it didn't quite fulfil its potential, and the repetition of material at the beginning and end is disconcerting.
It is uncanny how Italy's film-makers keep failing to nail, or effectively to satirise, their country's strident political shortcomings.
Deeply felt melancholy lingers long after the credits roll.
Delivers a compelling and considered take on immemorial themes.
[It] has plenty of wit and punch, although compared to the best of the medium - Man On Wire, for instance - it sometimes comes off as guileless and clunky.
[An] inventive, urgent and humane prison drama, in which real-life Mafia and Camorra prisoners act in a version of Julius Caesar.
If you're looking for an adventurous thought-provoking film, "Caesar Must Die" more than fits the bill.
Audience Reviews for Caesar Must Die
Super Reviewer
I really liked this. I didn't love it though, the main reason being I didn't feel I got to know the characters, and form that emotional attachment. Your introduction is the casting process, and maybe the lines were *too* skillfully blurred for me to form that attachment as it went along. I wanted them to "break character" for lack of a better phrase more often, and get to know them. No doubt the fourth wall was broken occasionally, but I couldn't follow them on their journey as much as I'd like to have.
Super Reviewer
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Foreign Titles
- Cäsar muss sterben (DE)
- Caesar Must Die (UK)
