MovieChat Forums > Down by Law (1986) Discussion > italian mumbling

italian mumbling

posted 19 years ago by irie44
19 replies | jump to latest

in the scene when roberto is left on the shore with the police dogs approaching, he speaks to himself in italian...i cant for the life of me find out what he was saying. does anyone know?

[–] BrianZKing-1 19 years ago

Do you know Italian?

I haven't killed a man since 1984

[–] Asterixxxx 19 years ago

irie44

in the scene when roberto is left on the shore with the police dogs approaching, he speaks to himself in italian...i cant for the life of me find out what he was saying. does anyone know?

BrianZKing

Do you know Italian?

Classic Stuff

"Damn, We're in a tight spot" - Ulysees Everett McGill

[–] bejasus 19 years ago

I just watched the movie yesterday for the first time in years, and I was wondering this same thing! I don't speak Italian, so I figured somewhere on the internet someone has either the screenplay (which we can run through babblefish) or a translation. I'll post if I find it!

Clementine Kruczynski: I'm a vindictive little bitch, truth be told.

[–] shuhatton 19 years ago

hi all, here is what Benigni says:

in italian:
"ooh, ragazziii!!! aspettatemi!!! (<--he first shouts to jack and zack) ...porca madoscaccia maiala... m'hanno lasciato solo... senti che cani americani... c'ho du cose nel mi mondo che non posso vedere, i cani e l'acqua, e ora sono in mezzo ai cani e all'acqua... babbo, babbo perche' non ti ho dato retta babbo, cosa ci son venuto a fare quaggiu'... dio bono... madonna bona... ora vengono qua questi cani e mi mordono... ecco lo sapevo... poi chissa' come si dice in americano "reggi i cani"... reggere cani... reggi i cani... boh... a reggere, areggere, come si dice... forse "tu arreggi" ....oh ...arregg the dog! arregg the dog!"

...and the translation:

"hey guys!!! wait for me!!! (<--he first shouts to jack and zack) ..."porca madoscaccia maiala" (he's swearing, there's no real translation for this) ...they left me alone... listen, american dogs... there are two things in this world that I can't see (stand), dogs and water, and now I find myself between dogs and water... dad, dad oh why didn't I listen to you dad, what did I come down here for... dio bono ...madonna bona (best way to translate it is just "oh god ...oh mother")... these dogs are coming here and they're going to bite me... I knew it... I wonder how to say in english "reggi i cani" ...reggere cani... reggi i cani... boh... a reggere, areggere, (the verb "reggere" means "to hold", which is the word Roberto is trying to remember but can't; i cani > the dogs)...how do you say... maybe you "arreggi" ...oh ... arregg the dogs! arregg the dogs! (he finally comes out with "arregg" that has no meaning, it's just mixed-up italian, in order to make it sound more like an english word; "arregg" sounds quite funny for an italian, like me :-)

hope this is helpful,

_marco

[–] little_drop_of_poison 19 years ago

Wow, it didn't even took a year, and we have the answer to opening post! Internets is an amazing thing!

Thanks for translation, shuhatton, it was bugging me too for a long time.

P.S.

Rewatched the movie yesterday, and realized that most of filming locations are probably deep under water now. Sad.

[–] ignominia-1 18 years ago

ben fatto Marco, non avrei potuto tradurlo meglio! grazie a nome di tutti, avrebbero dovuto sottotitolarlo quel pezzo, seppure Benigni e la sua parlata siano quasi intraducibili... ma hai dato una traduzione con spiegazione che funziona! ciao

[–] mc_bamboogie 18 years ago

by the way the swearing part ..."porca madoscaccia maiala" means something like'Evil, sick swines' or something like that

[–] Suskis 15 years ago

mmm, let's see:

porco = pig. porca is female but not literal: it's used in swearing (example: a slut is a porca).

madoscaccia comes from madosca, that is a way to say "madonna" (Holy Mary) without saying her name really. it's a funny way people use to swear in Italy: changing some letter to avoid using the real names of god, jesus, christ, etc etc.

maiale = again, pig. maiala, again, is female, but used only in swearing.

so, porca madoscaccia maiala" is a double insult to the Virgin Mary!

'What has been affirmed without proof can also be denied without proof.' (Euclid)

[–] thklista 12 years ago

Thanks!
I've just seen my other favourite from Jarmusch, A Night on Earth, and Benigni uses the same ("porca mados...") expression several times (and he even mentions he's not a local in Rome, but from Tuscany), and it was nice to know finally what it means :)

[–] yllennoc 11 years ago

I was getting "pigs! mother of christ!" in my own limited understanding of Italian. Which actually made sense to me. And I also was able to pick up on the "stuck between the water & the dogs" part.

By the way, we do the same thing here in the USA, with such words as "Golly" or "Darn" or "Goll darn" to avoid saying "God Damn!".

Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for.

[–] Spanish_Prisoner 18 years ago

I just watched the movie in original english with german subtitles and that part cracked me up. It was really funny.

[–] irie44 18 years ago

oh wonderful! i dont even remember how long ago i posted that question! thanks!

[–] addicted2guitar 18 years ago

Ah excellent! I was wondering about that too! Its a shame my copy doesn't have english subtitles..

[–] irie44 18 years ago

mine has english subtitles, but it doesnt translate that part. it just says something like "in italian"...

[–] tommy_a83 17 years ago

I rented the DVD last week (in Sweden) and all the Italian was translated, Don't remember what he said though. I hate when they don't translate lines in foreign languages and just put In Italian/Spanish/German and so on.

[–] lyliakar 17 years ago

i watched the film last night and i wondered why the parts in italian had no subtitles too, and being an italian native speaker i'm thinking of making some complete subs for the film. anyways, as the brilliant translator of such parts pointed out, benigni's non-translated words are mostly curse words. his cursing isn't nasty though, in italian it sounds even funny because he swears in kind of tuscan slang saying words which aren't used in the official italian language, such as, for example "bucaioli", which i wouldn't know how to render into english. other times he says things such as "shoot" instead of "sh*t" and so on.

the word "àreggi" is tuscan too, in italian one would say: "trattieni" or "tieni", or at least "reggi".

[–] bejasus 17 years ago

Thanks for the detailed transcription and translation!

I don't speak Italian, but I always thought the garbled English phrase Benigni comes up with at the end was "unlatch the dogs," which is the opposite of what he wants them to do (leash the dogs).

Brideshead: There's nothing wrong in being a physical wreck, you know . . . .

[–] paleolith 12 years ago

Another thanks for the translation and explanation!

Edward

[–] EliHayes 12 years ago

I don't know what he was saying but I know that it was still one of my favorite scenes in the movie... very Jarmusch. Anyway, I think Roberto Benigni stole the show in this film. Everything he said made me laugh (but my opinion in a little biased: Life Is Beautiful is my all-time favorite film).

P.S. I know O Brother, Where Art Thou was inspired by Homer's Odyssey but didn't anyone else get the vibe that the Coen Brothers must have really liked Down By Law, as well? Maybe it's just me, though.