Word: blacksmiths
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Born in 1883 in the Romagna, a region south of Venice, Mussolini was a hereditary rebel; both his father and his grandfather had been imprisoned for their political beliefs. Papa Alessandro, a blacksmith with intellectual aspirations, was one of the earliest proclaimed socialists in Italy. Young Benito was a loner with what would now be called sociopathic tendencies, a street fighter who looked on violence as the natural way to get what he wanted. Yet he was unquestionably intelligent. He read extensively in German, French and English and even wrote a novella in the style of Edgar Allan...
...whose socks don't match, even if it can read gold watches. Anyone who tries to engage in thoughtful evaluation of the material before him is likely to be rudely interrupted by Dan himself, sauntering up the aisle, patting his shoulder, and demanding, "Now your, sir--you're a blacksmith with only one apprentice, and your work doesn't suffer, does...
...only takes a second, says Jimmie Blacksmith's unwilling accomplices to the slaughter. You would think, he says, that you would have to think a lot before killing someone. But, he adds, it only takes a second...
...movies, simply scare the audience. Unlike Straw Dogs, or a Deer Hunter, the film does not manipulate the audience by quick cuts to gruesome scenes, so that one fears every sudden change of scene. That, in effect, is manipulated terror: one fears what gore might come next. In Jimmie Blacksmith, however, Schepisi imbues his simple close-ups with increasing echoes of horror. Slowly these scenes draw the audience into an ever-widening circle of violence. Sometimes the scenes are frightening. Sometimes not. It is the randomness one fears. One cannot hear a baby scream, or watch someone mixing soup...
...Jimmie Blacksmith's rampage continues, the film transcends the individual acts. On perfectly sunny days, human beings explode, literally explode, gaping holes where vital organs once were. And yet the Terror becomes metaphor. Nothing is what it seems. It only takes a second. In the end Blacksmith is as destroyed by the violence he makes. "Does anybody deserve this?" Jimmie is asked. In one incredible sequence, Jimmie Blacksmith stands on an ancient sacred Aborigine spot, an amazing visual juxtaposition, part Old World and part Urban Present. He has no blood ties. No gods. The only justification in his mind...