Hawks and Sparrows

What holds this exasperating, playful, intellectual, faux-naif and overwhelmingly Italian fable together is simply Pasolini’s personal vision of the unresolved dialogue between Marxism and the Catholic Church. A vagrant (Totò) and his son (Davoli) wander down a long road - the road of life, Pasolini is not afraid simply to tell us. They encounter a rational, talkative crow, who beguiles them on their journey with a fable in which they reappear as two friars entrusted by St Francis with the task of communicating with the birds. This journey of the left-wing crow and the feckless wayfarers is a film of complete individuality, apparent even from the sung credits, in which Pasolini gaily admits that he is risking his reputation.