A review of L'America by Deborah Young in Variety:
Lamerica
By DEBORAH YOUNG
A Cecchi Gori Group release (Italy) of a C.G.G. Tiger Cinematografica (Rome)/Arena Films (Paris) co-production in association with RAI-TV Channel 1, Vega Films (Zurich), Canal Plus and the Centre National de la Cinematographie. Produced by Mario and Vittorio Cecchi Gori. Executive producer, Enzo Porcelli. Directed by Gianni Amelio. Screenplay, Amelio, Andrea Porporati, Alessandro Sermoneta. Gino - Enrico Lo VersoFiore - Michele PlacidoSpiro - Carmelo Di MazzarelliSelimi - Piro Milkani
Two tough Italian con artists come face to face with the nightmarish despair of post-Communist Albania in "Lamerica," a hard-hitting, often moving film by top Italo helmer Gianni Amelio. Pic's uncompromising scorn for the two exploiters is matched by its hellish vision of a starving nation desperately searching for an escape hatch. Much tougher than Amelio's previous "The Stolen Children," pic could encounter resistance from more delicate filmgoers. But its evangelical sincerity and the sweeping emotion of its finale could win the director new admirers abroad with well-targeted handling.
Enrico Lo Verso, the swarthy young carabineer from "Children," returns as Gino, an apprentice swindler who comes to Albania with the more experienced Fiore (Michele Placido) to buy a shoe factory they never intend to run. Their get-rich-quick scheme is to cash in on Italian government aid to Albania's devastated post-Communist economy, but first they need to find a local majority partner to play the role of the company's puppet president.
The choice falls on 80-year-old Spiro (Carmelo Di Mazzarelli), a helpless senior who has been driven mad by 20 years of hard labor in the Communist prisons. Now the prison doors have been flung open, but Spiro has no place to go. He still lives in the labor camp, filmed as a living hell, with other lost souls.
The story takes its first turn when Spiro disappears. Lo Verso's angry search for the old man offers Amelio a chance to take his camera on the road and meet roving bands of barefoot children and hungry, hollow-eyed citizens traveling on run-down trains and dusty buses. On the way, Gino begins a frightening descent into the world of no-way-out poverty. His arrogance and cruelty melt away as he is dispossessed of everything heowns: his Suzuki jeep, his chic Italian sunglasses, finally his clothes, his passport and what remains of his self-confidence.
In the end, Gino is indistinguishable from the penniless, unwashed, desperate Albanians who cram into a rusty ship bound for Italy. Their faces, some blank, some full of hope, blend into the faces of thousands of Italian immigrants from the past. The film ends here, but Italian viewers well remember the fate of the Albanian refugees on that voyage of hope in the summer of 1991: When they reached Italy, they were herded into soccer stadiums, where they remained for days before being forced to go back home.
Despite its grounding in recent history, there's nothing documentary about "Lamerica's" carefully planned and paced scenes, lensed in chillingly desaturated color and epic widescreen by Luca Bigazzi. At the film's center is the relationship between Gino and the deranged old man, who, much to his surprise, turns out to be Italian, a Sicilian like himself who deserted Mussolini's army in 1939 and went into hiding under an Albanian name. Played by a non-pro, Spiro/Michele has the unreal presence of a concentration camp victim come back to life.
Lo Verso is at the height of his powers here, lending intensity to the cocky, despicably self-serving Gino who gets a comeuppance of biblical proportions. But even this strong a perf can't erase a feeling that the character is very schematically drawn, and Gino's slow progress toward human feeling is all too predictable. Placido is on target in a small role as his totally cynical business partner.
Title comes from Amelio's metaphoric connection between the Albanians straining to reach the promised land of Italy, and the impoverished generation of Italians who left their country behind to go to America.
Camera (color, Cinemascope), Luca Bigazzi; editor, Simona Paggi; muisc, Franco Piersanti; art direction, Giuseppe M. Gaudino. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 4, 1994. Running time: 125 min.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Unit 2 - L'America
L’America begins with a black and white newsreel showing Mussolini’s triumphant takeover of Albania. As Mussolini’s troops enter, there is much celebration from the Albania people. Then the film fast forwards fifty years to a far different scene. We see a land full of destruction and citizens clamoring to get out any way they can find.
We are introduced to Gino, a young Italian con artist who, with his partner, enters Albania under the guise of opening a shoe factory. In order to receive a government grant for funding their bogus enterprise, the men must enlist the aid of an Albanian “straw man” chairman for the company, whose only requirement is that he be able to sign his name. Gino chooses Spiro, a seemingly muddle-minded old man with no family as the “perfect” chairman.
Gino takes Spiro to live at an orphanage where he believes Spiro can be manipulated as they see fit. However, Spiro has his own ideas about his life, and when Gino goes to see Spiro about appearing once again before the government officials, Spiro has left the facility. In order to save bogus shoe factory, Spiro must appear before the government official, so Gino begins to look for him.
When Gino catches up with Spiro, we find that the old man is not what he first appeared – in fact, he is not even Albanian, but an Italian deserter who has been imprisoned for fifty (50) years. In Spiro’s troubled mind, he has no recollection of the years of imprisonment, but is obsessed with returning to Italy to see his wife and the infant son he left behind when going off to war.
Throughout the film, we see an Albania scarred by war and destruction. The Albanian people are pictured in abject poverty. However, pervading their spirits is the hope for a better life if they can only get to Italy.
Gino as a character goes from being an arrogant trickster to just another Albanian trying to get out of Albania as he slowly loses all of his possessions, including his passport. As Gino’s possessions are lost, his relationship with Spiro evolves from one where Gino is taking advantage of the old man to a relationship somewhat like a father and son.
The final scene leaves us with a picture of a crowded ship taking hopeful immigrants to a new life in Italy, only the confused Spiro believes they are going to “L’America”, the land where anything is possible.
This is a beautiful film that shows us that hope does, in fact, spring eternal, even in the face of horrendous adversity.
We are introduced to Gino, a young Italian con artist who, with his partner, enters Albania under the guise of opening a shoe factory. In order to receive a government grant for funding their bogus enterprise, the men must enlist the aid of an Albanian “straw man” chairman for the company, whose only requirement is that he be able to sign his name. Gino chooses Spiro, a seemingly muddle-minded old man with no family as the “perfect” chairman.
Gino takes Spiro to live at an orphanage where he believes Spiro can be manipulated as they see fit. However, Spiro has his own ideas about his life, and when Gino goes to see Spiro about appearing once again before the government officials, Spiro has left the facility. In order to save bogus shoe factory, Spiro must appear before the government official, so Gino begins to look for him.
When Gino catches up with Spiro, we find that the old man is not what he first appeared – in fact, he is not even Albanian, but an Italian deserter who has been imprisoned for fifty (50) years. In Spiro’s troubled mind, he has no recollection of the years of imprisonment, but is obsessed with returning to Italy to see his wife and the infant son he left behind when going off to war.
Throughout the film, we see an Albania scarred by war and destruction. The Albanian people are pictured in abject poverty. However, pervading their spirits is the hope for a better life if they can only get to Italy.
Gino as a character goes from being an arrogant trickster to just another Albanian trying to get out of Albania as he slowly loses all of his possessions, including his passport. As Gino’s possessions are lost, his relationship with Spiro evolves from one where Gino is taking advantage of the old man to a relationship somewhat like a father and son.
The final scene leaves us with a picture of a crowded ship taking hopeful immigrants to a new life in Italy, only the confused Spiro believes they are going to “L’America”, the land where anything is possible.
This is a beautiful film that shows us that hope does, in fact, spring eternal, even in the face of horrendous adversity.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
EARTH
There are parts of both reviews with which I agree, but I must identify more with the Wallia review as I did not really care for the film. I did appreciate Wallia's historical detail, but did get the feeling that Wallia had a personal agenda for writing in this fashion.
Ansari is correct that this film is a dispassionate account of the partition that neither spares nor condemns any group involved. I also agree with Ansari's assessment of the film as having a "voyeuristic quality". I did feel as though I was peering through keyholes into private moments.
After viewing this film and reading these reviews, I am very interested in reading Cracking India.
Ansari is correct that this film is a dispassionate account of the partition that neither spares nor condemns any group involved. I also agree with Ansari's assessment of the film as having a "voyeuristic quality". I did feel as though I was peering through keyholes into private moments.
After viewing this film and reading these reviews, I am very interested in reading Cracking India.
Unit 1 - Alternate Film Little Vera
Little Vera was an interesting film with an overall feeling of sadness and hopelessness, but with moments of comic relief. My favorite scene in the film was the one in which Sergei is choosing what to wear to meet Vera's parents for the first time. He picks up a traditional pair of dark slacks, rejects them, and throws them on his bed. He then does the same thing with a pair of khaki slacks, and finally decides on a pair of colorful plaid Bermuda shorts. The next shot we see is Vera opening the door to allow him enry and the expression on her face when she sees the shorts. In a conformist society, and a conformist family within that society, this was a total flaunting of convention. Sergei did not care what Vera's parents thought of him. Even though I am not very sympathetic with Sergei's character in remaining scenes, this one made me laugh out loud.
Another scene that was "telling" about this film took place on a secluded spot at the beach where Vera and Sergei were lying together on a blanket. As they discuss what they want out of life, Vera has the pivotal line of the entire film that they both want the exact same thing as everyone else in their country -- communism. It did not seem to occur to Vera to question that goal.
If I could change the ending of this film, I would give this family at least some glimmer of hope that their lives could be made better in some way. It was so sad that Vera's father died with the same blank, hopeless expression on his face with which he started the first scene.
Another scene that was "telling" about this film took place on a secluded spot at the beach where Vera and Sergei were lying together on a blanket. As they discuss what they want out of life, Vera has the pivotal line of the entire film that they both want the exact same thing as everyone else in their country -- communism. It did not seem to occur to Vera to question that goal.
If I could change the ending of this film, I would give this family at least some glimmer of hope that their lives could be made better in some way. It was so sad that Vera's father died with the same blank, hopeless expression on his face with which he started the first scene.
SUCCESS!!
Eureka! I successfully set up my very first blog page. I never would have believed I would be doing this, but score one for the middle-aged student.
Bring on the blog!
Bring on the blog!
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