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La Ricotta
In his contribution to the omnibus film RO.GO.PA.G (1963), Pier Paolo Pasolini depicts Orson Welles making a film about the crucifixion of Jesus, while he, the cast, and the crew behave quite unholy. La Ricotta is a short, apocalyptic tirade against the conventions of filmmaking and the unchristian coldness of contemporary Christianity.
La Ricotta expresses disgust for the vulgarity of consumer society and rebukes the Catholic Church for abandoning the poorest members of society. In the film, Christ is a starving extra who gives his own lunch to his hungry family, loses another, stolen meal to the lapdog of a visiting movie star, and, after stuffing himself with ricotta cheese, dies of indigestion.
Pasolini’s career was often silenced by lawsuits and scandals. His international fame made him a powerful contrarian in Italian politics and the art world. His films and writings were considered a real threat to the significant remnants of fascism in modern Italy. La Ricotta introduced an openly political message into his oeuvre. He was sentenced to several months in prison for contempt of religion, although the charges were later dropped.
Bio Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter, and political figure. This extraordinary cultural versatility made him a highly controversial figure and one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history. Pasolini’s unsolved and extremely brutal abduction, torture, and murder at Ostia in November 1975 prompted an outcry in Italy, where it continues to be a matter of heated debate. He is known for directing The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), his ‘Trilogy of Life’—The Decameron (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972), and Arabian Nights (1974)—and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975).
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- This film was #37 in the “Greatest” Short Films of All Time 2025