The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The crow is presented as a left-wing intellectual of the old school, introduced with intertitles declaring it as such. It serves as a satirical guide who delivers philosophical and political commentary throughout the journey, representing the kind of Marxist-minded intellectuals who existed before Palmiro Togliatti's death. The bird's speech is deliberately verbose and didactic, parodying academic political discourse.

• crow
• left-wing intellectual
• political satire
• Pasolini

The hawks represent the powerful and wealthy social classes, while the sparrows represent the weak and poor. This allegory directly mirrors class struggle, with the predatory relationship between hawks eating sparrows symbolizing how the ruling class exploits the working class. The parable uses this simple animal hierarchy to illustrate systemic social division.

• hawks
• sparrows
• allegory
• class struggle
• power

Despite learning the language of both birds and preaching the commandment of love to each group separately, the friars fail to unite them because the fundamental power dynamic remains unchanged. Hawks continue to prey on sparrows because that is their nature and their means of survival. The parable suggests that love alone cannot overcome structurally embedded class conflict without addressing the underlying economic and power structures.

• friars
• love
• class conflict
• social division
• failure

Saint Francis explains the relationship between the two factions from a Marxist perspective, acknowledging that the divide between powerful and weak is deeply entrenched. He urges the friars to continue preaching anyway, suggesting that perseverance in spreading the message of love is still valuable even when immediate reconciliation seems impossible. This scene fuses religious symbolism with communist ideology.

• Saint Francis
• Marxism
• religion
• politics
• parable

Following their encounter with a prostitute, Totò and Ninetto kill and eat the crow, which functions as a brutal metaphor for how intellectual idealists are consumed and destroyed by the very people they try to help. The act represents a nihilistic conclusion where the protagonists, having witnessed throughout their journey the failures of love, faith, and political commentary to change society, ultimately reject and destroy the symbolic voice of conscience itself.

Foreshadowing: The crow's fate is foreshadowed by the increasingly harsh encounters along the journey, particularly the poverty and desperation they witness, which suggest that abstract idealism cannot survive in a world of material need.

• crow death
• nihilism
• intellectual consumption
• ending

The film interrupts its fictional narrative with actual news footage of Palmiro Togliatti's funeral, the longtime leader of the Italian Communist Party. This inserts real-world political history into Pasolini's allegory, grounding the abstract class struggle commentary in a specific moment of Italian political mourning. It signals that the film's satire is directly engaged with post-war Italian politics and the death of a key leftist figure.

• Togliatti
• funeral
• Italian communism
• politics
• 1960s

When Totò and Ninetto encounter a family living in absolute poverty with no food, Totò threatens to drive them out if the rent isn't paid. This moment is deliberately uncomfortable and satirical, showing how even those at the bottom of society can be turned into instruments of oppression. It reflects Pasolini's critique of how economic desperation forces everyone into complicity with unjust systems, regardless of their own circumstances.

• poverty
• rent
• class solidarity
• irony
• social critique

The scene features a group of traveling actors who represent society's margins, women, LGBTQ people, the elderly, racial minorities, and the disabled, persuading Totò and Ninetto to push their broken-down Cadillac. This satirical moment plays with stereotypes about social labels while also showing solidarity across marginalized groups. The Cadillac itself symbolizes the unreachable aspirations of society even for those who exist outside its mainstream.

• traveling actors
• marginalized groups
• solidarity
• stereotype
• Cadillac

Early in their wanderings, Totò and Ninetto witness a body being carried from a house after a murder, reacting with curiosity rather than fear. This opening moment establishes the film's tone of blending everyday life with societal violence and absurdity. It sets up the journey as one where death and social dysfunction are constant background elements, not extraordinary events.

• murder
• body
• opening
• death
• society

After persistent failed attempts to preach to the hawks and sparrows, the two Franciscan friars discover the language of birds, allowing them to communicate with both groups. This breakthrough represents the power of understanding and listening to those who are different, learning their language rather than imposing one's own. However, this linguistic success does not translate into actual reconciliation between the groups.

• friars
• bird language
• communication
• understanding