Arabian Nights

For the third film in his “Trilogy of Life,” Pasolini conveys the Arabian Nights tales in the spirit of their original telling. He roots this magic carpet fantasy in the kind of realism that he consistently drew from landscapes (here in Yemen, Ethiopia, Iran, and Nepal) and the faces of his largely nonprofessional, native casts. Ninetto Davoli and Franco Citti are featured in key roles, Davoli particularly memorable as the sad sack Aziz, who abandons his wife on their wedding day after being lured off by a mysterious beauty. Ines Pellegrina plays the sassy Zumurrud. The tales are marbled throughout with the good-natured sexuality and unabashed nudity with which Pasolini approaches the Arab proverb “To the pure, all things are pure.” British critic Tony Rayns called this “Pasolini’s most beautiful film, and a triumphant vindication of the entire trilogy.”