The Taviani’s spent six months inside the Roman maximum security prison, Rebibbia, filming the casting and rehearsals for a stage production of Julius Caesar with the inmates as performers. The performances of the inmates as theatre stand up to those of most professional actors in their power and emotion. But this is not a documentary of a performance. This is a film about how their immersion in Shakespeare’s play about betrayal, power and violence helps the inmates understand themselves and how the actors’ own personal experiences helps us better understand Shakespeare’s play. For the inmates these emotions are real.

The Taviani’s originally became interested in filming inside the prison after visiting a prison performance of Dante’s Inferno inside a high security prison in Italy where they saw how the prisoners were able to identify with their roles. After this intense experience they began to think about a film of a prison performance and eventually chose Julius Caesar because they felt the themes of the play would offer themes that the prisoners could relate to.

Speaking at the press conference director Paolo Taviani said: “We wanted to include the inmates’ experiences into the drama of the play. The inmates were able to put themselves into the shoes of the characters. When an actor says” “I killed Caesar,” he feels the pain, but when the inmate says this line he feels something different, he feels real pain.”

Filming in a prison could easily become voyeuristic but the Taviani’s deep sense of social commitment never allows this to enter the film.

Vittorio Taviani said: “We felt when we entered the prison that we were entering a new world and we asked ourselves – do we have a right to be here?” But it was clear the men wanted to be recognized, to show that they were there.

The most effective parts of the film are undoubtedly the rehearsals and these were filmed in black and white while the performance was shot in colour. The choice of black and white gives these scenes a more artistic, less realistic look.

Vittorio Taviani said that the choice of black and white was because the directors wanted to show something that was less realistic than the colour images that audiences are all so used to today. He said: “We wanted to show something that is happening inside the souls of these men during the rehearsals and black and white was the most effective way to do this.”

The film is not really a classic documentary. Many of the lines spoken sound scripted and it might be more accurately described as a docudrama. But generally the genre is not important here. The Tavianni’s have provided a gripping screen experience that keeps the audience involved from start to finish and the Berlin win will attract a wide audience for this film.

Directors: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani

Cast: Cosimo Rega, Salvatore Striano, Giobanni Arcuri, Antonio Frasca.