Ballarat Film Society – L’Ombra di Caravaggio

The famous 17th century Italian artist Caravaggio is well known for his intense realism and use of strong contrasts of light and dark. Living in Milan, Naples, Malta and Sicily he was a rebellious man with an eye for beauty, the streets and high drama, and was hugely influential on succeeding generations of painters all over Europe.

Years ago, BFS screened Derek Jarman’s biopic Caravaggio (1986) on 16mm, so in this anniversary year it is fitting to screen the latest interpretation of the artist’s colourful life. In this film, the Catholic Church plays a central role in shaping the new artistic landscape, recruiting ‘The Shadow’ to interview patrons and associates of the artist, to establish if he is worthy of a pardon for causing the death of another young man.

Expect to see the visceral, extreme, beautiful, disturbing, genial, sacred and the blasphemous. Italian cinema at its richest. Palace Films.

Italy, 2022, 128 min. Dir. Michele Placido. Stars Riccardo Scamarcio, Isabelle Huppert and Michelangelo Merisi.