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Cemetery Man
A Review by Geoff Bough
I first saw Michele Soavi’s Italian zombie epic Dellamorte Dellamore otherwise known as Cemetery man in 1997. I was amazed at how interesting and in depth it is. It is so much more than just a typical zombie romp. It has elements of many different genres and at times you wonder where the zombies are. Soavi leads you one way ultimately leaving you to draw some conclusions yourself. A film so poetic and romantic, it is a great escape from a typical ‘horror’ film.
Dellamorte Dellamore is loosely based on the wildly popular Italian comic book “Dylan Dog” By Tiziano Sclavi.
The main character, Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the Buffalora cemetery groundskeeper who manages and lives in the cemetery with his bashful and inarticulate assistant Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro). Francesco has come to terms with the fact that after seven days, the dead return to life. He takes this problem under control by dispatching the “returners” with a bullet to the head. Francesco makes attempts to get help from the mayor of the city but in order to do so he must file the right paperwork in the right order which seems to much a burden for him. More of a burden is the uncaring mayor who is solely concerned with being re-elected and looks at the numbers of the dead as lost votes.
Political satire is no stranger to zombie movies and this film is no stranger to it. Rupert Everett delivers his performance as the sardonic Francesco with a sly grace. He doesn’t fear the returners but instead looks at them as a sort of burden in an unfulfilling, dead end job and being the caretaker of the cemetery it’s his job to dispose of them. His co-worker and mute roommate Gnaghi is the only friend that Francesco has as well as the only person he can look to for help with the returners.
The film plays out in an almost book-like fashion as each segment or chapter has us veering off on some wild adventure. Francesco soon meets “She” played by Italian actress Anna Falchi. A breath of fresh air for Francesco as he becomes smitten with her and it’s almost as if nothing else in the world matters, as long as he’s with her. The two fall in love and jealousy grips Gnaghi as he watches his only friend becoming attached to someone other than him. Possibly being so severely poisoned by jealousy, Gnaghi finds companionship in the decapitated head of a recently deceased, yet returned young girl. The girl also happens to be the daughter of the now distraught mayor.
Francesco, as it may has been poisoned as well, poisoned with a love that manipulates and lusts to control him. His love turns to peril as She is bitten as they make love in the cemetery. Francesco will not let this be the end of his most cherished love and places her body in an old ossuary in hopes of her return to live a life among the living. Francesco comes to terms with what he has to do and ends the life of a love that was lost. A feeling that seems all too familiar for Francesco as love seems to always flee his longing grasp to hold onto it. In his meek existence, Francesco finds comfort in the ferocity of new life. Having just tasted the feeling of shared passion, he seeks out the happiness in people around him, almost living vicariously through the unbereft spirit of another’s soul. Unwilling to forget his love for “She” we see the visage of her returning on the face of Francesco’s love interests.
Francesco realizes that losing control of the cemetery and losing his mind seem to draw two parallels. Gnaghi and Francesco take to the road in a sort of soul searching expedition. Time forgets but the heart will always remember, what is there to hold onto if death is the final answer? Questions will go unknown and the soul will ultimately collapse if no one is willing to search themselves to find the answers. In the last scene of the film, it’s almost as if the two are in a snow globe…their lives being monitored and shaken up by someone unknown to them, their pride and peril controlled by some outside force.
As Francesco says to Gnaghi, “Past this town is the rest of the
world.” Then asks “I wonder what the rest of the world looks
like?” It makes you wonder how sheltered both their lives were or
if there really even was more to the world. I guess if you hadn’t
yet found yourself, you couldn’t be expected to find the answer
to that question. Dellamorte Dellamore represents the genre with grace
and sophistication and is a film that all fans should enjoy.