Rating: 
Summary: Apparently, "It's a Dog's World" ("More" or Less)
Review: "Mondo Cane" ("It's a Dog's World") might not have been the first shockumentary, but this 1962 film is the first such film to get a wide viewing. I cannot believe they actually showed this to us in high school (WHAT were they thinking?). Then again, I have to admit I have never forgotten the sight of a guy with a sword cutting off a bull's head with one swing or the bugs prepared for dinner. The film offers an initial disclaimer that says, in part, "the duty of the chronicler is not to sweeten the truth but to report it objectively". Of course, this is the justification for this fascinating and repulsive look at outrageous things around the world. Writer and co-director Gualtiero Jacopetti travels back and forth around the world between the so-called civilized and primitive worlds, creating all sorts of ironic frames of meaning (aided and abetted by thinly veiled sarcastic narration). In Rome chicks are dye bright colors for Easter eggs while a tribe out in the jungles waits five years to slaughter a hundred pigs and have a big feast. Of course, there are better examples, but it seems kind of pointless to spoil the fun by telling you the best shocks in a film that was considered the "most argued about film" on earth when it was first released in 1963. This 107-minute Italian film is in French, with English subtitles, and was helped with its legitimacy by the fact its theme song "More" was nominated for an Oscar. On the one hand it is relatively tame given what we see in movies today, but then it does have the virtue of being documentary fact rather than special effects fiction. Still, I have to believe that "Mondo Cane" will be of more interest to those on whom it made an impression way back when, rather than winning new generations of viewers. But remember, sooner or later, this film will make you drop your jaw at something. You were warned.
Rating:
Summary: Apparently, "It's a Dog's World" ("More" or Less)
Review: "Mondo Cane" ("It's a Dog's World") might not have been the first shockumentary, but this 1962 film is the first such film to get a wide viewing. I cannot believe they actually showed this to us in high school (WHAT were they thinking?). Then again, I have to admit I have never forgotten the sight of a guy with a sword cutting off a bull's head with one swing or the bugs prepared for dinner. The film offers an initial disclaimer that says, in part, "the duty of the chronicler is not to sweeten the truth but to report it objectively". Of course, this is the justification for this fascinating and repulsive look at outrageous things around the world. Writer and co-director Gualtiero Jacopetti travels back and forth around the world between the so-called civilized and primitive worlds, creating all sorts of ironic frames of meaning (aided and abetted by thinly veiled sarcastic narration). In Rome chicks are dye bright colors for Easter eggs while a tribe out in the jungles waits five years to slaughter a hundred pigs and have a big feast. Of course, there are better examples, but it seems kind of pointless to spoil the fun by telling you the best shocks in a film that was considered the "most argued about film" on earth when it was first released in 1963. This 107-minute Italian film is in French, with English subtitles, and was helped with its legitimacy by the fact its theme song "More" was nominated for an Oscar. On the one hand it is relatively tame given what we see in movies today, but then it does have the virtue of being documentary fact rather than special effects fiction. Still, I have to believe that "Mondo Cane" will be of more interest to those on whom it made an impression way back when, rather than winning new generations of viewers. But remember, sooner or later, this film will make you drop your jaw at something. You were warned.
Rating: 
Summary: This movie should be titled MONDO CRAP!
Review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED-- This amazing video is a 'must-have!' I rented 'Mondo Cane' (aka Mondo Magic) from a local video store when I was 15 years old, and now, at 28, I still remember with vivid clarity, the exhilarating experience of viewing this profoundly shocking video. YOU WON'T FIND THIS AT BLOCKBUSTER OR HOLLYWOOD VIDEO! Watcher BEWARE, the scenes depict actual documentary-style footage--not a fictionalized account--of native people practicing traditional rituals which may severely conflict with your notion of 'acceptable Western cultural practices.' Hunting, eating, come-of-age initiation and explicit sexual rites, dramatic celebrations, shamanic religious ceremonies and even everyday life scenes around a small village people, provide a significantly shocking experience, while the material is dealt with quite sensitively, almost clinically. This video will broaden your understanding of the profound diversity of human life, sex, religion, and death experiences in cultures different than your own. Be prepared to see with an open mind and a pretty tough stomach, before watching this film. --Loco Bonobo
Rating: 
Summary: Mondo Magic
Review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED-- This amazing video is a 'must-have!' I rented 'Mondo Cane' (aka Mondo Magic) from a local video store when I was 15 years old, and now, at 28, I still remember with vivid clarity, the exhilarating experience of viewing this profoundly shocking video. YOU WON'T FIND THIS AT BLOCKBUSTER OR HOLLYWOOD VIDEO! Watcher BEWARE, the scenes depict actual documentary-style footage--not a fictionalized account--of native people practicing traditional rituals which may severely conflict with your notion of 'acceptable Western cultural practices.' Hunting, eating, come-of-age initiation and explicit sexual rites, dramatic celebrations, shamanic religious ceremonies and even everyday life scenes around a small village people, provide a significantly shocking experience, while the material is dealt with quite sensitively, almost clinically. This video will broaden your understanding of the profound diversity of human life, sex, religion, and death experiences in cultures different than your own. Be prepared to see with an open mind and a pretty tough stomach, before watching this film. --Loco Bonobo
Rating:
Summary: Boo-ring
Review: I found this movie to be such a bore. I was expecting to be "shocked" but I was instead lulled to sleep. Maybe this film was shocking for its time (the 60s), but not for modern day America.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint of heart
Review: I saw this movie back in 1967 and was grossed out at the vile things that were done to animals. To this day, it haunts me and gives me a sick feeling to believe that such things actually happen. A distinct memory is of a bull or cow getting its head chopped off, and to see the animal crumple to the ground. There is a sick fascination to the events but once is enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Multi Cultures Explored
Review: I saw this movie when it was first released in 1962. I was 17 years old at the time, and I must say it left a strong impression on me. I found the movie at the time to be original and disburbing for a youth of 17 years. I did not know of all the bizarre events that took place around the world. It opened my eyes to cultures different than mine. I found it to be educational and mind expanding. I would recommend it for anyone over the age of 14 years. Another plus to the movie is the title song "More", which was a big hit at the time. If you want reality, and want to learn about other cultures and their practices this is your movie. Have fun and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Nimoy would be proud!
Review: I used to work the night shift. When I got home at 7am, the Discovery channel (the perennial fallback) ran a show called Arthur C. Clarke's Strange Universe (or something like that). Clarke would narrate a story about the natives of Papua, New Guinea who worshipped the dead and stacked their bones in crumbling caves. Then he'd go on to tell you about a ghost that haunted a british pub. After a bit more of this, he'd give a very ambiguous wrap-up and that was it. Now imagine that with real life stories that are actually interesting and you have Mondo Cane. The footage (and the announcer) is definitely dated, but it's still interesting. You get to see strange scenes of drunken men falling asleep while crossing a street, women who spend hours choosing the right snake for dinner, modern kids (in t-shirts and jeans!) scrubbing the skulls of their ancestors, and on and on. Bizarre. If you ever sat through an episode of anything hosted by Clarke, Leonard Nimoy, or John Frakes, this is right up your alley. If not, check it out anyway.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating look at the bizarre
Review: Mondo Cane is a bold and intriguing look at the worlds most unique costums and tastes in food. There are people eating ants in a posh New York restaraunt, dogs served in Thailand. Snakes skinned and sold in an asian grocery. There is gruesome animal slaughter. woman breast feeding a piglet, naked women used a human paintbrushes, hilarous drunken people in Germany, killer sharks fed poisinous sea urchins by vengeful fishermen, animal graveyards, and hu morous moments such as lustful sailors running from side to side of their huge vessl to watch scantily clad beauties. Mondo Cane is bizarre, unique, ugly, unsettling , educational and funny at times. Film is not for weak stomachs or easily offended.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-See film
Review: simply because it's the best and first of its kind. VERY well done. Yes, it's a bit gruesome, but nowhere near what some reviewers would lead you to believe. Unless you already have an incredibly weak constitution, nothing here is stomach-churning. Yes, people eat dogs in it, and snakes... but this goes on in the world. It's not like they pick up a live puppy and take a bite. I thought the NYC folks chowing down on ants and other oddities at premium prices ($20 for lunch in 1963!) was far more pathetic, since they were eating them not because they particularly liked them or were too poor to afford anything else, but because it was oh-so avant garde. I also had to laugh at one reviewer who was disturbed by the scene of a beheaded cow (actually a bull) "crumpling to the ground" And what else would you expect a beheaded cow to do? Stand there? But some made it sound as if those beheadings were done for fun. Not true. It's a centuries-old Gurkah ritual, and afterward, the cows are eaten. It's not like they suffered; it was over before they knew it.
What's truly revealing is that so many folks commented on the animal suffering in the film (the most visible is a residual result of nuclear tests) but not the human suffering, which is probably the most upsetting portion. Go figure.
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