
In Rebibbia Prison in Italy, its inmate theatre program puts on a well received production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The film goes back several months earlier as the coordinators announces the play as the program's production of the year. With that project set, we see its creation as the cast is auditioned and selected for this artistic challenge. As they rehearse, the prisoners, many of whom are long termers and lifers for serious crimes, find that the classic ... (Full plot summary below)
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In Rebibbia Prison in Italy, its inmate theatre program puts on a well received production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The film goes back several months earlier as the coordinators announces the play as the program's production of the year. With that project set, we see its creation as the cast is auditioned and selected for this artistic challenge. As they rehearse, the prisoners, many of whom are long termers and lifers for serious crimes, find that the classic play has both a striking resonance and contrast to their confined lives.
Leave your thoughts about Caesar Must Die.
| 2UE That Movie ShowBlake HowardFriends, Romans, Countrymen; Caesar Must Die is flawless, and must be seen. |
| New York PostFarran Smith NehmeSuch is literature’s power that the cast is more at ease portraying ancient Romans than speaking as versions of themselves. |
| Minneapolis Star TribuneColin CovertA film somewhere between documentary and neo-realist drama. |
| Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)John BeifussDestined 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. |
| Detroit NewsTom LongThere's an intensity and emotional accuracy to the performances that's just stunning, particularly Striano's Brutus, as he longs for death and release. |
| Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerThe ferocity of the performances is inextricable from the men’s real-life criminality. We are baffled, moved, and repulsed – often at the same time – by the elemental spectacle before us. In this metaprison drama, the prison bars are both illusory and unbreakable. Caesar Must Die chronicles an exalted entrapment. |
| CultureCatchBrandon JudellHere's an extraordinary melding of the actualities of modern man with his ancient past. Sadly, humankind hasn't made much progress when it comes to controlling its ambitious and testosterone-tinged impulses. Happily, human frailties make great art. |
| OregonianGrant ButlerFor a movie with such a brisk pace -- it clocks in at just 76 minutes -- Caesar Must Die has surprising depth, particularly when it comes to the strong performances by the actors, many of them Mafiosi serving time for drug trafficking and murder. |
| NPRBob MondelloThe Taviani brothers, Paolo and Vittorio, have been blurring the line between reality and fiction in their films for six decades. |
| London Evening StandardDerek MalcolmIt 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. |