Review of Requiescant

In Fort Hernandez, San Antonio, a group of Mexican villagers is betrayed by Confederate soldiers led by aristocratic Officer George Bellow Ferguson (Mark Damon) and they are slaughtered. After the massacre, the boy Requiescant wanders in the desert but he is rescued by the religious Father Jeremy that is traveling with his wife and daughter in his wagon. The boy is raised like a son and when he grows-up, Requiescant (Lou Castel) is very close to his stepsister Princy (Barbara Frey). One day, the rebellious Princy leaves her family, traveling with a theater company. Requiescant promises to his foster family to seek Princy out and bring her back home. Along his journey, Requiescant proves that he is a great skill with his gun to self-protect. When he arrives in San Antonio, he finds that the city belongs to Ferguson. He goes to a saloon and he finds that Princy has become a prostitute pimped by Ferguson's henchman, the gunslinger Dean Light (Ferruccio Viotti). Requiescant asks Ferguson to let Princy go with him, but the boss of the town is reluctant to release her. When Requiescant learns that he is Mexican and the fate of his family, he decides to help the priest Don Juan (Pier Paolo Pasolini) to start an uprising against Ferguson.

"Requiescant" is a western with a story that does not work well, actually is absurd. The promising beginning, with the massacre of the Mexican people, has a silly motive to bring Requiescant back to his hometown. His ability with a gun has no explanation and when he finds that his stepsister is a whore, the plot becomes ridiculous .The sequence with Requiescant asking Ferguson to let Princy go is corny and the dispute of Princy while drinking wine is dreadful. I was curious to see Pier Paolo Pasolini and probably this is the only attraction in this film. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Réquiem para Matar" ("Requiem to Kill")