1974 Winner, Amarcord

Amarcord

Director:  Federico Fellini

Distributed by:  Warner Bros./New World Pictures

Released:  December 1973

Country:  Italy

Going backward chronologically with our Best Foreign Films, now is when we get into the Italian and French dominance of the award.  No other country would win more than three times  from the inception of the award to 1974, while Italy won 11 and France 9 during that time period.  The director of Amarcord, the 1974 Best Foreign Film, is known as one of the great directors of all cinema, Federico Fellini, and this one is the last of his three films that won the award. 

I’ll start with this:  You don’t have to know anything about movies to know, after just a few minutes of watching this film, that Fellini is a master director.  The photography is wonderful, with scenes in school, church, the town square, and the coast, that are all marvelously shot.  You can see his influence over the art:  The scenery often reminded me of 1990’s winner Cinema Paradiso, 2013 winner The Great Beauty, and 1998’s Life is Beautiful.   Francis Ford Coppola must have also been influenced by Fellini, as one scene in the country brought a couple different The Godfather locations to my mind, though that great film was made two years earlier than Amarcord. (The fact that Nino Rota, frequent Fellini collaborator, did the score for both Amarcord and The Godfather probably had something to do with it as well.)

Titta (right) with his father and grandfather

I start with all that stuff about the scenery in part because there isn’t much of a linear plot here.  This is more like a snapshot of small town, pre-World War II north-central Italy.  Mussolini is in power and fascism has its clutches around Italy, but these small-town people have their lives to lead.  There is a vast cast of eccentric characters, but the focus is mostly on teenage boy Titta, presumably based on Fellini himself, and his family.  Titta’s dad is especially blustery and funny, looking remarkably like the guy who used to wake up early to make the Dunkin Donuts.  He always seems to be angry, either at Titta, or at his freeloading brother-in-law, or at his half-witted brother who won’t come down from a tree he’s climbed. 

There are scenes in the classroom that reminded me of stuff you may have seen in the Little Rascals, only a bit more PG-13.  At one point, while a bookish-looking kid is up at the chalkboard with the teacher struggling with a math problem, some mischievous boys construct and extend a long paper tube, one boy peeing into it from his classroom desk, sending a puddle next to the unsuspecting nerd.  The tube disposed of before she notices, the teacher looks down at the floor and then the student and yells, “What do you do?!” It's one of those immature pranks that you laugh at and wonder why you didn't think of it when you were young, and then think it's probably better that you didn't.

Looking for something?

Fellini, or rather young Titta and his friends, are obsessed with sex, and more specifically, with women’s butts and breasts.  Close-ups of women’s rears appear frequently in the film, with the boys and men gazing longingly.  There is one amusing scene when a female shop-worker encounters Titta and unleashes her breasts on him, nearly killing poor Titta and no doubt requiring Fellini to use a wide-angle lens. (A look at the movie poster will give you a clue at what I mean--that cartoon really isn't a caricature.)  In another scene, an aging but still attractive hairdresser whom all the town boys have the hots for finds herself sitting next to Titta in an otherwise empty movie theater.  As he moves his hand onto her slightly exposed thigh she snarkily asks, “Looking for something?”

Armacord as a whole can be taken as a critique of an Italy that allowed a fascist’s rise to power.  Some of the more serious scenes involve the struggle for these townspeople to deal with the choice they had with fascism—go with it or get run over by it.  It strikes me, though, that Fellini is presenting rural life much more lovingly and nostalgically than that.  Yes, the Catholic priests are tone deaf to the needs of the people; yes, the boys spend all their time thinking of girls; and yes, there are few weirdos who are part of the fabric of the place.  But it seems like this was a simpler time, and I think given how colorfully and brilliantly the movie is shot, it would be difficult to not like this small Italian town.

The Title:  A kind of made-up Italian word meaning, “I remember.”

Time to make the donuts!

The Culture:  This was a time between the great wars, in small town Italy, and Fellini presents us with the naivety of the time.  Everyone knows each other in this odd cast of characters:  the priests and teachers; the round-reared hairdresser; the odd nymphomaniac who hangs around; and the strange town character who talks to the camera from time to time. They all make up the time and place Fellini remembers.

Agenda danger:  Fellini, a non-practicing Catholic himself, seems to be critical of the Church, of Catholic education, and of the way the Church viewed sex.  But I found this presentation to be mostly an accounting of how it was then, and not a condemnation of the time he grew up in.  Titta’s father, a comic figure overall, stands up to the fascists admirably, as few must have in the time.

Best Picture that year:  The Godfather, Part II

Rating:  I must say I was a little confused by this once I finished it:  What was the story?  What did it mean?  But it was a film that was enjoyable to watch from start to finish, and it stuck with me a little after I was done, which I believe to be the mark of a great film. 

1956 Winner, La Strada

La Strada

Director:        Federico Fellini

Distributed by:  Lopert Pictures Corporation

Released:  May 1957

Country:  Italy

Well, life is a road, it's a motorway

And the road gets rocky along the way

But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day

--“The Road,” by The Kinks

“The Road,” or in Italian, “La Strada,” is used as a metaphor for “Life” in literature, in song, and in film.  Life is full of anger, of innocence, and of course, of silliness. And sometimes those three experiences exist for us simultaneously, each at battle with the others for superiority within ourselves.  That’s maybe too heady for an amateur film reviewer like myself to ponder, but I think it is exactly what Federico Fellini’s 1956 film La Strada is dealing with.

Anthony Quinn as Zampanò

The story centers on Zampanò, played by American actor Anthony Quinn.  He is a brutal and angry street performer whose main talents seem to be bullying and getting drunk.  His performing assistant has died, so he is replacing her, pretty involuntarily, with her sister Gelsomina, played by Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s actress-wife.  Gelsomina isn’t all that bright, but she is sweet and sincere, which is what Zampanò needs in his life.  The two of them stop every so often to perform their act, which includes her comedic intro to his show of strength, in which he wraps chains around himself and puffing his muscles out, breaks out of them.  She isn’t thrilled with his brutishness, but he teaches her how to play an instrument or two and she begins to take to him a little, the way a mistreated dog might take to its master.  Zampanò is determined to be the same lout he has always been, but he can’t help but benefit a bit from Gelsomina’s wide-eyed innocence.

Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina

Eventually, she has enough of his boorishness and tries to escape Zampanò, running away and joining a traveling carnival.  There, she meets a clownish tightrope-walker simply referred to as “The Fool,” played by another American, Richard Basehart.  When Zampanò comes looking for his assistant to get her back, he encounters The Fool, and it’s clear they know each other.  Zampanò cannot stand The Fool, as he has no sense of humor; The Fool doesn’t seem to dislike Zampanò really, but cannot stop himself from constantly mocking him constantly.  Gelsomina eventually goes back with Zampanò, but she wishes he could lighten up a little.  The Fool, really a friend to Gelsomina, and Zampanò will collide again, and Gelsomina will have to decide if Zampanò is worth staying with.

When the anger of Zampanò encounters the innocence and naiveté of Gelsomina, the question that could be asked is which will be affected by the other more?  By the movie’s end, the question will be answered fully, though perhaps not giving the viewer much satisfaction.  I will say that though this was one of those endings that confused me for its abruptness, after some thought, I believe it to be brilliant.

Richard Basehart as The Fool

La Strada deserves the distinction of being the first Best Foreign Film to win the award in competition with other nominees (the first eight movies given an award were given Honorary Awards with no competition).  Fellini was still in the neo-realism phase of his career, so while there is some symbolism in this story, it’s gritty and real with no dreams or bizarre asides.  Fellini’s frequent musical collaborator, Nino Rota, composed a score that included a lilting tune that his wife, Giulietta Masina, requested be played at her funeral.  The pretty tune seems an appropriate sendoff for when the actress, who represents innocence in this film, came to the end of her road.

The Title:  The Road.

The culture:  It’s interesting how when Gelsomina’s sister dies at the beginning of the film, her mother essentially sells her to Zampanò for 10,000 lire.  The country was still suffering vast abject poverty following the war.  Also interesting is Fellini’s use of American actors.  If you watch the film in Italian, Quinn and Basehart are dubbed; watch the English version and you will hear their voices, with Masina’s voice oddly dubbed.  Fellini had no issue using actors who didn’t speak Italian, a method used later by Sergio Leone.

Agenda danger:  Unlike earlier neo-realist films, like De Sica’s The Bicycle Theives, this film is largely without a political bent.  While there is a real theme—the co-existence in society of brutality and innocence—Fellini doesn’t appear to be hitting us with a message.

Best Picture that year:  Around the World in 80 Days.

Rating:  Martin Scorsese asserts that this film is the best introduction to Fellini, and having seen Nights of Cabaria, 8½, and Amacord, I agree. The characters draw you in, and while his is vile and hateful, Zampanò is someone you cannot help but hope the best for.  His own self-loathing is what harms him, and his introduction to the simple Gelsomina is his chance for redemption.  I thought this was a terrific movie.

1957 Winner, Nights of Cabiria

Nights of Cabiria

Director:        Federico Fellini

Distributed by:  Lopert Pictures Corporation

Released:  May 1957

Country:  Italy

Giulietta Masina is a name you probably never heard of.  She was Fellini’s wife of 50 years and one day.  They fell in love after he picked her for a radio serial he had written and they were married shortly after in 1943.  She died just five months after he did in 1993.  She was his muse, his inspiration, and his partner.

But she was also a great actress in her own right, starring in a number of movies directed by her husband, including 1957’s Best Foreign Film, Nights of Cabiria.  For her performance in this film, she won several awards, including Best Actress awards from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists and from the Cannes Film Festival.  She starred in two of Fellini’s Best Foreign Films—this one and the more known La Strada from 1956.  She’s very good in that film, but it’s rare when you see a performance as moving as when she plays the prostitute Cabiria in this film.

Nights of Cabiria starts with a scene that shows exactly how things are going for Cabiria.  She is frolicking (yes, frolicking) with a young man, Giorgio, on the banks of a river, swinging her purse and gazing at him with one of those “I wish someone looked at me like that” looks.  Then Giorgio points to the river: Looky there!  She looks, and in one motion grabs the purse and pushes her into the drink.  Turns out their relationship was nothing but a con to get what little money she had.

Cabiria with her movie star john

Cabiria almost drowns, but is saved by some locals.  She is hurt and angry, but she moves on in her dreary life.  She has a small home, more than most of the other prostitutes she knows have.  She’s not very attractive, but she never seems to be without a smile, except of course when men are stealing all her money and nearly killing her.  She has friends, but they’re all prostitutes too, and she wants more out of life.

She is exposed to more.  She briefly is under the “employ” of a rich movie star who is on the outs with his glamorous girlfriend.  He invites her to his place but makes no advances.  She is wowed at how the other half lives, and he genuinely seems to like her.  But he eventually makes up with his girl and she is again back to reality.  Another time, she is impressed by a group of nuns that come through the prostitute neighborhood.  She wonders if this is the life she should choose, but again, in her gritty world, such things don’t seem realistic.

Humiliated by a hypnotist

All this is prelude to what happens to her at a carnival.  She is “volunteered” at one of those cheap carny acts, a hypnotist having her acting out her desires.  Her desires, as we all know, is for her to lead a normal life, with a kind husband and maybe some kids and household chores to attend to.  She is on stage, pantomiming the gestures of her naïve ideas of what love is, and her performance ends with her realizing the audience is all laughing at her.  It’s awful, but saved by one man, Oscar, who approaches her after the show, taking her side and letting her know her ideas are not so naïve.

The relationship between Cabiria and Oscar forms the film’s third act.  Without telling you how it goes, there are two scenes that stand out.  The first is about one of the most heartbreaking scenes you will see on film, and Masina acts it masterfully.  Like Al Pacino’s famous scene in The Godfather as he ponders his first assassination, Masina’s feelings are all told in the eyes.  The scene is followed by a scene full of hope, again the product of a great performance by Masina. 

It's all in the eyes

Fellini deserves all the praise in the world for his directing in this film.  But he must have given his wife Giulietta Masina a few “I wish someone looked at me like that” looks as he watched her give a performance that made this film a pleasure to watch.

The Title:  Le notti di Cabiria.  Cabiria was actually a character in an earlier film, the first one directed solely by Fellini, The White Sheik (or Lo sceicco bianco) from 1952.  The part was played by Mesina in that film as well.

The culture:  This film is Fellini before he turned from neo-realism to art films filled with symbolism, like 1963’s 8½.  None of the prostitutes are beautiful, and their lives sure aren’t. 

More acting with the eyes: Alec Guiness, The Bridge on the River Kwai

Agenda danger:  The film also includes a popular topic for Fellini, the Catholic Church.  It’s clear Fellini, who was Catholic, has mixed feelings about the traditions and beliefs of the Church.  Cabiria’s brief encounter with the Church does offer her a bit of hope for redemption and a better life, but she never pursues that chance seriously.

Best Picture that year:  The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Rating:  I’m not saying this is Fellini’s best film—I would chose 1956’s La Strada as my favorite—but it is a great character study, featuring a wonderful performance by Mesina.  The story is a sad one, but Mesina’s Cabiria isn’t someone you feel sorry for, despite her being a down-on-her-luck prostitute.  To me, that’s great acting.