Cristo Si E Fermato A Eboli (aka Christ Stopped At Eboli) (1979)

Set in 1935 fascist Italy, a painter and writer (Gian Maria Volonte) is arrested by Mussolini's regime and sent and confined to a small rural town in Southern Italy. An intellectual with a medical degree, he finds the dire poverty appalling and the ignorance and superstition of the townspeople difficult to deal with. Based on the memoir by Carlo Levi (played here by Volonte) and directed by Francesco Rosi (HANDS OVER THE CITY). A remarkable political film that exists in two versions. The 2 1/2 hour theatrical cut and the 3 hours and 45 minutes television cut (which is the version I saw). The film examines the forgotten peasants living away from the metropolis of Rome and other urban Italian cities. Their situation dismissed as an unsolvable problem by the Fascist powers, Volonte's political prisoner becomes empathetic to their problems and while the villagers are at first suspicious of him, eventually they accept him as one of their own. Excellent as his performance is, Volonte doesn't dominate the film but serves as a reactor and observes. Gritty and real, it's an affecting film on several levels both intellectually and emotionally. With Irene Papas, Lea Massari, Alain Cuny and Francois Simon.