Radiance Films
Blu-ray Release: September 24, 2024
Video: 1.85:1/1080p/Color
Audio: Italian LPCM 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English
Run Time: 110:29
Director: Damiano Damiani
Mistaken as a witness to a crime, Nino (Giuliano Gemma), learns from a friend he has been put on a Mafia hit list and is being stalked by an assassin (Michele Placido). A man with a troubled past, Nino knows only too well what he faces and uses all his strength and cunning to keep himself and his family alive. (From Radiance’s official synopsis)
Comic book artist, screenwriter, and documentarian Damiano Damiani made his feature film debut in 1960 with the true crime drama Lipstick (Italian: Il rossetto), followed by a series of beloved character dramas and the dreamy Gothic romance The Witch (Italian: La strega in amore; aka: Strange Obsession, 1966). Soon after (also in 1966), Damiani’s complicated left-wing politics informed one of his greatest contribution to Italian cinema, Bullet for the General (Italian: El Chuncho, Quien Sabe?), kicking off a string of westerns that used the Mexican Revolution as a framing device for modern political metaphors, known as Zapata westerns (named for Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata).
Crime stories were always in Damiani’s blood, going back to the comics he made with the associated Group of Venice (Gruppo di Venezia), and Lipstick was a glimpse into his future as a poliziotteschi innovator. The year after Bullet for the General, he teamed with actor Franco Nero for The Day of the Owl (Italian: Il giorno della civetta; aka: Mafia, 1968), leading to three more collaborations – Confessions of a Police Captain (Italian: Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica, 1971), The Case is Closed, Forget It (Italian: L'istruttoria è chiusa: dimentichi, 1972), and How to Kill a Judge (Italian: Perché si uccide un magistrato, 1974). Damiani’s poliziotteschi weren’t remembered for their ultra-violence and sleaze – they were prestige titles that won major awards. He followed up the Nero movies with a final western, A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (a for-hire comedy gig under Sergio Leone; Italian: Un genio, due compari, un pollo, 1975), I Am Afraid (Italian: Io ho paura, 1977), starring Gian Maria Volonté, and a hostage drama called Goodbye & Amen (Italian: Goodbye e amen, 1977).
In 1980, Damiani paired with spaghetti western legend and recent David di Donatello Best Actor winner (for Valerio Zurlini’s The Desert of the Tartars [Italian: Il deserto dei Tartari, 1976]) Giuliano Gemma for a giallo-poliziottescho hybrid entitled The Warning (Italian: L'avvertimento) and the bleak mafia drama – and subject of this review – A Man on his Knees (Italian: Un uomo in ginocchio). The screenplay, co-written with Nicola Badalucco, draws from his previous mafia movies. It’s sort of a companion piece to I Am Afraid, due to its depiction of bleak desperation and, like Day of the Owl, it explores the wider connections between organized crime and political power. It’s not a greatest hits package, though – Damiani keeps savvy viewers on their toes by throwing us into the middle of an ongoing situation from the point-of-view of characters who are too far down the totem pole to understand what’s really happening. The confusion, frustration, and fear becomes contagious on the march to the unbearably tense final act, which has some truly depressing things to say about the nature of loyalty, social standing, and human nature.
A Man on His Knees has its share of stylish movements, but Damiani opts to shoot most of it in a stark, roughened fashion that matches the spiraling mood and emphasizes the immediacy of the situation. Performance quality is typically high, especially Gemma, whose raw melancholy won him the Grolla d'oro for Best Actor. He’s contrasted and bolstered by character actors and dramatic veterans, including Michele Placido as the cagey, nervous hitman, Eleonora Giorgi as Nico’s capable wife (she’d go on to appear in Dario Argento’s Inferno [1980] the following year), and poliziotteschi regulars Tano Cimarosa and Luciano Catenacci as Nino’s born loser best friend and police commissioner, respectively.
Bibliography
Italian Crime Filmography, 1968–1980 by Roberto Curti (McFarland, 2013)
Video
A Man on His Knees didn’t get a proper release in stateside theaters or on US VHS tape. An OOP American DVD was put out by defunct distributor NoShame under the original Italian title. This is both the film’s North American and HD/Blu-ray debut. This transfer is taken from a new 4K scan of the original negative from Augustus Color SLR, restored by Mediaset, and is presented in 1080p and 1.85:1. This isn’t an easy transfer to review, because Ennio Guarnieri’s cinematography is purposefully affected by in-camera artifacts, mainly soft focus, diffused edges, and a vague fogginess to several scenes. It’s not as extreme as the extra damp and smoky photography Sergio Salvati shot for Lucio Fulci’s Contraband (1980), but it’s notable. Additionally, a lot of the lighting is naturalistic, so some sequences are pretty dark. With that in mind, clarity is consistent and colors are effective, if not muted. Grain isn’t super-gritty, but, again, fits, given the stylistic choices. There are a handful of outdoor scenes with pulsing white levels and a few vertical streaks, but the negatives themselves are in good shape.
Audio
A Man on His Knees is presented in its original mono Italian and uncompressed LPCM 2.0. Even end-of-the-’70s prestige productions were still shot largely without sound, so there isn’t technically an official dub, though I’m not sure if this particular film had an English language release. The mix is a bit condensed and fuzzy when things get loud, but the general sound is consistent and clear. The dubbing is quite good as well, probably because Damiani was shooting (to my eye) exclusively in Italian and using Italian-speaking actors. The haunting, whistled main theme, chugging action theme, and other music is provided by frequent Luciano Visconti collaborator Franco Mannino and sounds particularly nice on the track.
Extras
2024 interview with Alberto Pezzotta (23:44, HD) – The author of Directed by Damiano Damiani (I couldn’t find a publication date) discusses the film in the context of Damiani’s career and the broader Italian media zeitgeist at the time, themes shared between the director’s crime movies, and Italian mafia fiction in general. He refers to A Man on His Knees and The Warning as Damiani’s last two great films, at least among the ones released theatrically, so hopefully the latter will get a nice Blu-ray release sooner, rather than later.
Archival interview with Giuliano Gemma (8:45, SD) – The star reflects on the making of A Man on His Knees, which he calls the third part of his Sicilian triptych, working with Damiani, and shares some anecdotes from the set.
Director with a Capital D (8:59, SD) – In this interview taken from the 2007 NoShame DVD release, the late character actor and director Tano Cimarosa looks back on his career and collaborations with Damiani.
Damiano Damiani: A Filmmaking Animal (20:41, SD) – In the final archival interview, also from the NoShame disc, assistant director Mino Giarda recalls befriending Damiani, looking up to him as a mentor, and working on several of his films.
Italian trailer
The images on this page are taken from the BD and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.
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