Bandits of Orgosolo + The Lost World (1961) Radiance’s Best Release Yet (Review)

I reliably watch around 300 films every year. I am set to fall a long way short of that in 2024. Over the last two months, I’ve found it hard to concentrate as I focused my energy on preparing to move out of my damp flat while chronically ill, opting for the comfort of rewatching Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel instead of features. I finally moved last week, and in the absence of Wifi and 4G, I have been reconnecting with the things I love; friends, fresh air, books. And after watching Radiance’s two-disc release of Bandits of Orgosolo and The Lost World, Vittorio De Seta’s debut fiction feature and a collection of his documentary short films, I am thankful to have reconnected with films.

Bandits of Orgosolo follows Michele, a Sardinian shepherd, who is forced to flee to the mountains when he is falsely accused of being part of a bandit gang who have killed a policeman. Accompanied by his younger brother Peppeddu, Michele desperately tries to keep his flock of sheep alive while navigating difficult terrain and evading the law. The brothers travel further into uninhabitable territory, and with the police closing in, their herd begins to die. The film ends with Michele, desperate and broken, giving into the bandit lifestyle he is accused of, holding another shepherd at gunpoint in order to steal his flock.

Vittorio De Seta’s documentary background informs his approach to his debut fiction film. His casting of real Sardinian Shepherds as actors and stunning location shooting grounds his film in authenticity. De Seta is intrinsically interested in community, routine and manual labour. His anthropological approach to filmmaking, blending fiction and documentary, takes the time to show you the shepherd’s way of life; how they work, where they live, the blood and sweat that goes into their livelihood. De Seta’s camera is fascinated by his subjects and it is infectious — it makes us invest in a way that most filmmakers can only dream of. The beautiful black and white cinematography showcases the mountains, the rocks and the forests. It vividly captures a sense of place, which is integral to the shepherd’s way of life and thus the story.

Bandits is unmistakingly Neorealist in form, but there’s something of a Western in its structure. We meet Michele protecting his way of life, shooting at wild dogs who threaten his herd. The film’s opening narration highlights that for Sardinian Shepherds, “only the bonds of family and community matter. Everything else is incomprehensible, hostile,” and “of modern civilization they know above all the rifle”. These values and the mythology of the gun are reminiscent of the wild west, a motif which becomes more thematically apparent as we follow two brothers on the run across vast landscapes. They run until they can no longer outrun the inevitable and Michele is forced by circumstance to sacrifice his morality on the way.

The film’s bleak finale compounds how authority corrupts and how poverty creates vulnerability. Peppeddu comes of age in mortifying fashion, having his childlike illusion of being outlaws shattered by the slow death of their herd. Michele inevitably follows the path the police set for him, taking advantage of someone in a worse position than him in order to survive, reluctantly becoming one of the titular Bandits of Orgosolo. De Seta’s debut is brutal, beautiful and devastating.

That brings me onto The Lost World, a programme of 10 of De Seta’s short documentaries. If you think this sounds like an afterthought in the dual release, or like a glorified Special Features, you are sorely mistaken. I was absolutely astounded by these films. Whereas Bandits is black and white, these documentaries are bursting with rich colour and a few are even shot in CinemaScope. They are quite simply the most cinematic anthropological films I’ve ever seen. Just to give an example, The Age of Swordfish documents the now extinct act of swordfish fishing, Islands of Fire explores Stromboli, a volcanic region of islands and Golden Parable follows farmers working in the wheat fields.

I don’t want to describe the films, I want you to experience them like I did. I went in cold and I found each film to be utterly breathtaking. They are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The restoration work is beyond words. These films are living and breathing documents of forgotten ways of life, of community and they are a loving ode to the strength and spirit of working people.

The Lost World is not a bonus disc. It is probably the best release Radiance has ever done. And that’s saying something.

The Bandits of Orgosolo and The Lost World is an incredible dual release and excellent value for money. Discovering the work of Vittorio De Seta has reawakened my dormant hunger for films. I am so excited that a wider audience will now get to experience his astounding movies and hopefully be as stunned as I was.

Jimmy’s Archive – Bandits of Orgosolo + The Lost World (1961)