| Caesar Must Die | |
| Director: | Paolo Taviani Vittorio Taviani |
| Producer: | Grazia Volpi |
| Screenplay: | Paolo Taviani Vittorio Taviani |
| Starring: | Salvatore Striano Cosimo Rega Giovanni Arcuri Antonio Frasca |
| Music: | Giuliano Taviani Carmelo Travia |
| Cinematography: | Simone Zampagni |
| Editing: | Roberto Perpignani |
| Studio: | Rai Cinema La Talee Stemal Entertainment |
| Distributor: | Sacher Distribuzione |
| Runtime: | 75 minutes[1] |
| Country: | Italy |
| Language: | Italian |
Caesar Must Die (Italian: '''Cesare deve morire''') is a 2012 Italian drama film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. The film competed at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival[2] where it won the Golden Bear.[3] [4] The film is set in Rebibbia Prison (suburb of Rome), and follows convicts in their rehearsals ahead of a prison performance of Julius Caesar.[3]
Caesar Must Die has an approval rating of 92% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 50 reviews, and an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critical consensus states: "An ultra-immersive experience that captures the senses and boggles the mind, this leaves no room to question that Caesar Must Die".[5] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]
Critics praised the use of actual prisoners in the film, saying it brought a higher intensity to the piece.[3] Filmed largely in black-and-white, it has been described as a "deeply humanist film" that "blends gentle humour with an emotional punch". Paolo Taviani said that he hoped moviegoers would "say to themselves or even those around them... that even a prisoner with a dreadful sentence, even a life sentence, is and remains a human being". Vittorio Taviani read out the names of the cast.[3] The Hollywood Reporter described the outcome as "a major upset". Der Spiegel said it was a "very conservative selection".[3] Der Tagesspiegel criticised the outcome, saying that the "jury shunned almost all the contemporary films that were admired or hotly debated at an otherwise pretty remarkable festival".[7]
Caesar Must Die won the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012 where British director Mike Leigh led the judging panel. The film was also selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.[8]