Brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, best-known for their masterworks Padre Padrone and Night of the Shooting Stars, are triumphantly back in top form with their vital and riveting new film. In Rome’s Rebibbia prison, the warden suggests a new project to hardened inmates: the staging of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar within the prison walls. As convicts with wildly differing backgrounds (and accents) audition for the roles of Brutus, Anthony, Cassius and Caesar, the convergence of a classic work of fiction with the reality, truth and anger at the core of each of these actual prisoners elevates what could have been mere exploitation to the level of great art. From the struggles of the production’s director to the daily rivalries and disputes between the prisoners, everything is stacked against this experiment’s success, but as always in both life and art, surprises await. New York Film Festival; Golden Bear (Grand Prize), Berlin Film Festival; Italy’s official submission, 2013 Academy Awards. In Italian with English subtitles. (76 min.)

“A cinematic hymn to the power of theatre.” –A.O. Scott, The New York Times

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