BEFORE SCROLLING TO THE WEB PAGE BELOW ABOUT TINTO BRASS, PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THESE NEWS ITEMS, WHICH ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING I’VE EVER HAD TO SAY:

AMY GOODMAN:     A little-noticed story surfaced a couple of weeks ago in the Army Times newspaper about the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months,” reported Army Times staff writer Gina Cavallaro, “the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.” Disturbingly, she writes that “they may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control” as well. The force will be called the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive Consequence Management Response Force. Its acronym, CCMRF, is pronounced “sea-smurf.” These “sea-smurfs,” Cavallaro reports, have “spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle,” in a combat zone, and now will spend their 20-month “dwell time” — time troops are required to spend to “reset and regenerate after a deployment” — armed and ready to hit the U.S. streets....

FOR THE FULL STORY, CLICK HERE.

It gets worse:

NAOMI WOLF:     On October 1, 2008, President Bush deployed a brigade — which means three to four thousand warriors — somewhere in America. We do not know where they are deployed though citizens have informally reported to me having seen military vehicles and troops in Georgia and Alabama. We do know that their official mandate according to the first report is “crowd control” as well as action in the event of a mass civilian catastrophe. Initial reports described their technology “module package” as involving Tasers and rubber bullets.... The First Brigade is Bush’s force: they are not answerable to Congress or to the Governors of states: they are answerable to the Commander in Chief. In an Alternet posting, I interviewed Air Force Colonel (retired) David Antoon who noted that the troops must obey the president, even if he asks them to arrest Congress or fire on civilians or attack media outlets. If they do not obey orders, he notes, they face five years in prison.... Antoon himself calls the deployment “ominous.” Troops on our streets makes us something less than a democracy: one definition of a police state is when a leader sends his own military units into civilian streets. Meanwhile the civilian policing of citizens is becoming more brutal. Hundreds of preemptive arrests took place in St Paul, dozens of journalists were arrested.... In St. Paul, funds were sent in advance to pay off the lawsuits against police forces that were guaranteed to arise from the planned abuse of citizens. This sort of thing is happening across the country. The tactic has established a closed circle that has turned citizens’ law enforcement agencies into contractors of a state that is directing acts of increasing severity against US citizens. Now a military brigade is being deployed....

FOR THE FULL STORY, CLICK HERE.

Click here to see an interview with Naomi Wolf conducted in early October 2008.

For the past five years or so I hve been hearing rumors that Halliburton has been building (and has now finished building) 800 prisons throughout the USA, not yet functioning, but just waiting for the right crisis. I have not found reliable evidence for the specific quantity, readiness, functionality, locations, or details, but you might be interested in taking a look at page 5 of this Halliburton press release dated 26 January 2006: KBR has been awarded a contract announced by the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) component. The Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contingency contract is to support ICE facilities and has a maximum total value of $385 million over a five-year term. The contract provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the United States, or to support the rapid development of new programs.... Now, really, what are the chances of “an emergency influx of immigrants into the United States”? And what are the “new programs” that could come under “rapid development”?

FOR THE FULL PRESS RELEASE, CLICK HERE.

NOW, BACK TO THE MAIN PART OF THE WEB PAGE:

Did you happen to record Monty Python’s Flying Circus when it was shown on PBS back in the 1970s?
Do you still have the tapes?
Is there a TIME-LIFE logo at the end?
If so, please write to me. Thank you!

THE WORKS OF TINTO BRASS

Freedom and Eroticism Continued

Monella

(a.k.a. Frivolous Lola, 1998)

Gioia di vivere! Is it possible to make a film more appealing than this? I don’t think so. This is as warm, as friendly, as life-affirming, as infectiously enthusiastic, and as buoyant as anything can be. The story is simple: Lola won’t marry Masetto until they have sex, and Masetto won’t have sex until they’re married. After numerous adventures, she gets her way. Don’t worry about the story, just have fun watching everyone in the village having a blast. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

NOTE: In the Italian version, Tinto Brass dubs English-speaking Patrick Mower’s lines.

EVERY CLOUD: A car accident led to this movie. One day Brass and his wife accidentally bumped into a bicyclist. Now, Brass had been looking for a bicyclist to play the lead, and so when the cyclist threw a fit, he asked her to audition. And there you go.

By the way, it was the coming of age of Brass’s 16-year-old niece Lulù that inspired this story—as well as Mrs Tinta Brass’s wistful memories of her youth.

WARNING: The English dub is re-edited and cut—just a little bit, but enough to ruin everything. Again, see it only if you really just have to know everything the characters are saying. But if you want to have a great time, watch the Italian version. You won’t regret it. The quality of the sound in the English dub is dreadful, anyway.

ANTICIPATION: Cult Epics will release the uncut version on DVD in September 2004, with both the English and Italian soundtracks, and with optional English subtitles.

AN HOMAGE: I wondered. I asked. I was told “No.” Then I kept wondering, asked someone who knew better, and I was told “Yes,” definitively yes. And what was I wondering?

WHERE HAVE WE HEARD THAT BEFORE? “Mambo italiano,” which Brass had used in Miranda, appears here again. One or two pieces from Paprika re-appear in this movie, as does the comic polka from The Key.

THE OFFICIAL AD:
http://www.cinecittaonline.it/noshock/trailers/monella.html

OTHER STUFF:
http://www.anica.it/cine/97_98/lungometraggi/Monella.htm
http://www.tempimoderni.com/1998/monella.htm

The Italian Region-2 PAL DVD, which will not play on most US equipment.

The out-of-print US NTSC Region-0 DVD, catalogue number DVD025, with both the English and Italian soundtracks, as well as optional English subtitles and an interview with Tinto Brass. The currently available versions have either the English (DVD047) or the Italian (DVD046) soundtrack, but not both. And they contain the 1.66:1 image reformatted to the smaller 1.78:1 to be compatible with 16×9 TV sets.

Reviews of the Cult Epics DVD:
Told You So
Rumour Machine
DVD Maniacs
Upcoming Discs
Cult Cuts
Hero Realm
Mondo Digital

Artisti Associati New Media
un film di Tinto Brass

Monella

Copyright © 1998
Cardinal Pictures srl - C.R.C. srl - Production Group srl - R.F.C. 2000 srl

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