Vittorio & Paolo Taviani, Caesar Must Die

50th New York Film Festival Special: The Taviani brothers, Vittorio, 72, and Paolo, 70, began their lifetime of cinematic collaboration on the world stage with Padre Padronne in 1977. Now Italy’s renowned duo returns with Caesar Must Die, this year’s winner of Berlin Film Festival’s highest prize, the Golden Bear.

An exhilarating study of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, as performed by inmates of the Tavianis, Rome’s high security prison. The inmates explain (via a translator) that when they first began performing, a pistol was kept in case the show didn’t work out and it would be time to end it all.

•