MACHINE TO KILL BAD PEOPLE

In a small fishing village on the Amalfi Coast, a stranger claiming to be Saint Andrea bestows a photographer’s camera with the power to kill “evil-doers” simply by photographing an existing picture of them. Soon he becomes addicted to his power, and begins to smite down everyone indiscriminately.

A pivot towards caustic surrealism for Rossellini, this fantastical morality tale–his only overtly comical film–would seem a likely influence on the Coen Brothers. Deriving hilarity from desperation and moral obliviousness, the film’s satirizing of cronyism and exploitation is as relevant as ever.