Every little thing is magic?

Parthenope (Italian; 2024)
Written and Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino

https://iicbuenosaires.esteri.it/it/gli_eventi/calendario/
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What is anthropology? This question is dangled in front of the audience throughout the film. In simple terms, anthropology refers to the study of what makes us human. It examines how we, as a species, alter our behaviours, interpret our environment, and seek purpose in our existence here on Earth. In other words, it is the straightforward act of observing and learning. 

We see in the spring of youth, but are too distracted to learn. We are too busy playing our biological roles, as hormones and our physical strength cloud our purpose. We are too busy savouring the essence of existence. Gradually, the hard knocks of life set in. We become wiser, yet remain too engrossed, striving to choose the best experiences. We do not wish to miss out.

We learn and grow wiser about the turns of events, of cause and effect. Our expectations also rise, and we become complacent in our comfort zones. 

Then comes a sort of desperation when mortality confronts us directly. We understand that our time on Earth is finite. We yearn to achieve the things we want to do, yet we feel we are already out of our depth.

Still, all the while we have been doing something. The call of duty for which we have sacrificed time and space has not been wasted. That has been the legacy we helped to establish. It has been our contribution to mankind. No, life is not wasted. Like the gentle waves that form after a tiny pebble drops into a serene lake, the little things we do will have spiralling effects across time and distances after the act.

In a rather indirect manner, this film attempts to convey a similar message. The placement of attractive individuals in a Mediterranean setting, with enviable bodies adorned in garments that leave very little to the imagination, must have significantly drawn the attention of film critics. It ultimately received mixed reviews, as the message seems rather cryptic. A smiling face and an appealing body can only take one so far. 

https://americananthro.org/learn-teach/what-is-anthropology/

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Nothing is as it seems.

A Chiara (Italian; 2022)
Director: Jonas Carpignano

That is what coming-of-age means. Growing up, we are imbibed with teachings of what is right and wrong. Our perception of the world is made, and we want to lead a life full of good virtues and abstain from negativities. Our first teachers about life, the future and the outside get a special honorarium in my mind. We placed them on a pedestal and became a reference point in our future decision-making.

Then we are slowly exposed to the outside world. We make friends. We become aware that life is not so straightforward after all. People do wrong things and are still cool about it. Our eyes are open to the reality of life. Suddenly our parents are not so saintly anymore. They have their gross shortcomings. The ideal world that we wanted to build becomes an unfulfilled dream.   We become another spoke in the world of misfortune. Did the parents do what they did for the family's well-being, for a better life, fully aware that it was wrong? Is it the responsibility of the rest to be complicit in the cover-up? Or should be just squeal, as it is the right thing to do.

This long-burn drama uses many non-professional actors to tell that exact story. The story of Chiara starts with a boisterous 18th birthday party of her sister's. Many family members and friends attend. Intimacy is apparent amongst the many close-knit relatives. The father is shown as a sensitive, loving father. 

The next morning Chiara's father goes missing after a car blast. Chiara is 15. Her mother, her elder sister as well as other members seem not too concerned about his disappearance. On her phone, Chiara learns that her father is a fugitive and is on the run for Mafia-related activities. In the meantime, Chiara beats up a fellow student at school. In view of her exposure to the Mafia, the social service decides to send her off to a foster family. Chiara has to grow up fast to make a decision about which way she wants her future to be - a brand one away from all the current trappings or one intertwined with the Mafia.

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People are sheep!

The Conformist (Il conformista, Italian; 1970)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

People are like sheep. They flock around each other, following their shepherd, not knowing that their shepherd has only one thing on their mind. That is, to protect the herd from the wolf, to fatten them and nicely line them up to the slaughter.

The one thing that differentiates people from animals, their minds are so quickly malleable. With a bit of persuasion, they will bark, sing, bleat, dance or croak to the tune of their masters.

Plato’s Cave Allegory, described in this movie, succinctly tells how we behave.

In Plato’s original example, he told of prisoners who had never seen the outside world, tied by their hands to face a wall of the inside of a cave. From the silhouette that appears on the wall of human activity, of people playing and children eating ice cream, they imagine how the world is without ever setting foot outside their prisons. It is an imagined outside world that he imagines may be far from what may be present in reality.

Strong leaders, through their rhetorics and perhaps behaviour, are able to create an understanding of a future that the politicians want their voters to believe. If the leader tries to usurp power via ‘divide and rule’ tactics, that is how he will steer the nation, i.e., one with animosity amongst the citizens whilst the leaders laugh all the way to the bank. That may be their legacy. If he tries to inculcate an inclusive rule, that is how the nation would go towards prosperity, barring any untoward catastrophe.

Look around. The shrieks of religious bigots in this country were reaching deafening pitches just before the GE15. As the results of the elections turned out to be against their favour, the yells mellowed down to occasional muffled murmurs. What gave? I would like to think it is the leader that makes all the difference. This time around, we see everyone wishing each other Yuletide greetings, even those who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Previously, religious bigots propagated the idea that one would convert to Christianity by expressing felicitations.

Look at WW2 Japan, Germany and Italy. See how their law-abiding, peaceful people followed behind the footsteps of their dictatorial leaders without questioning them, like the children of Hamelin would. The current generation must indeed feel ashamed of what their ancestors have done. A gag order on their faux pas is preferred.

Plato's Cave Allegory

This classic Italian movie by a master moviemaker managed to recreate the ambience of 1930s Italy under Benito Mussolini. The people of Italy are divided between following his fascist teaching and the faction that believes that knowledge and art should not be suppressed.

The clever use of darkness, light and shadow in this movie gives a traditional neo-noir ambience resulting in sumptuous visuals and extravagant, artful cinematography.

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The problem with building a nation!

Rose Island (L'incredibile storia dell'Isola delle Rose, Italian;2015)

Director: Sydney Sibilia

The idea of a nation is something relatively new. Before the advent of 'print capitalism', no law prevented one person from sojourning another part of this God's wide world. People of a shared ideology or values would congregate to live according to their pre-set societal norms. These 'imagined communities' as described by Benedict Anderson, are created when a sufficient number of people share the same language, live in the same geographic space, adhere to the same religious faith or cultural tradition, decide to live together. A nation is born when enough people identify with it. The printing press legitimises the birth of nations.

It is interesting to note that language was instrumental in developing nationalism at the infancy of the printing press. In the 21st century, however, political Islam seems to have transcended all borders. Brothers of Islam quiver when their blood brothers in a land half a globe away are wronged. However, they would not bat an eyelid for their fellow citizens in the same predicament just because of their differing faiths. It seems Islam transcends all nations.

Tourist hub

With nations came the power to control their citizens. Rules are set. In return, the government promises to defend its subjects from outside interferences. The nation-state is permitted to collect funds to ensure the smooth running of the people's life. Citizens are expected to conform, and their way of thinking is moulded, but what can be printed and broadcasted.

Rose Island

'Rose Island' is based on a true story of an eccentric Italian engineer, Giorgio Rosa, who built his own island in 1968 because he would not conform to ridiculous rules and regulations of the land. In a frenzy, after seeing a billboard advertising for workers on an oil rig, he jumped on the idea to erect a concrete platform off the international water territory off the coast of Rimini in the Adriatic Sea.

With a ragtag team of a war deserter, a pregnant teenager and a bored club promoter, the platform became a hot tourist spot drawing international travellers. The problem arose when they applied for nation status via the United Nations. Everything came to a grinding halt when the Italian government brought it down with dynamites. It is said that Rose Island remains the only nation to be attacked by the Republic of Italy.

The idea of creating a separate nation reminds me of the antics of Swami Nityananda, a fugitive godman who has built a new country of Kailasa, off the coast of Ecuador, with its own flag, currency and passport.

The only remaining remnant of existence
of Respubliko de la Insulo de la Rozoj

The idea of freedom brings us to the 1960s when it mattered to the powers-that-be transmitted over the airways. At a time when governments were churning out propaganda news to go one up against their opponents across the Iron Curtain, there was a pressing need to transmit away from government control. Radio Caroline, one of the most popular radio broadcasts of the 1960s, was broadcast from international waters using different ships. When small record companies with spanking new brand avantgarde music hardly got airtime, this independent station is Godsent for the younger minds to explore more unexplored frontiers in music.

More than meets the eye!

The 10th Victim (La Decima Vittima, Italian; 1965)
Director: Elio Petri

Riding high on her fame as Honey Ryder, 1962 Dr No's Bond Girl, as the Ultimate Bikini Goddess, Ursula Andress continued making movies banking on her sex symbol status. She also appeared in the 1967 Bond spoof 'Casino Royale' as Vesper Lynd, whose grave we saw in 'No Time to Die'. In between, this Swiss vixen also found time to act in this B-grade Italian movie. 

'The 10th Victim' is a futuristic movie set in the 21st century, where the world enjoys peace as society has managed to put a stop to wars. Man's predilection for violence is curbed by having society-sanctioned killing. Each person has the opportunity to kill ten people in a computer-drawn programme named 'The Big Hunt'. In five of the hunts, the selected play hunter and the other five, he plays the hunted. The hunter is given all information about his target but not the hunted. The hunted is clueless about who the assassin is. One who survives all ten hunts get loads of money. In between, the advertisers piggy-bag on the televised hunt.

The Bikini has come a long way since its introduction in the
1946 Paris catwalk. It was named in honour of Bikini Atoll,
the site where the US hydrogen bomb was tested.

The two main characters in the movie are Caroline and Marcello. Both of them are nine-time winners. Marcello is in a massive financial quandary trying to pay alimony to his ex-wife and sustain his expensive mistress. Winning the competition would mean a lot to him. He is chosen as the victim. Caroline is an American who lands in Italy to hunt her prey.

Despite being a brainless movie with plenty of eye candy and blatant flaunting of the female anatomy, the film seems to make reasonably accurate social commentary of the 21st century. It showcases a time where reality TV is a craze and advertisement drives people to sell out. Advertisers are more worried about their sales than the value of human lives. Marriages are a farce. Marcello had been married eleven times before.

The iconic bikini scene from Dr No skyrocketed the sales of bikinis.

In 1965, she was asked why she posed nude in Playboy. 

Her answer was, "because I am beautiful!" 

At one time, Ursula Andress was referred to as Ursula Undress.

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The need to fit in

The Stranger (Novella by Albert Camus, 1942)
Feature Film (Italian; 1967)

Director: Marcello Mastroianni

The last few years of his existence were not particularly pleasant. It started with diabetes which progressively affected his night vision. His occasional falls off his motorcycle, and a fracture shook his confidence. Progressively, the Penang roads appeared too hostile to his liking. He lost his independence when his children did not allow him to renew his driving and bike licences.

From then on, things only went south. Two episodes of strokes later and a urinary bladder's tumour afterwards with the ensuing therapy made life more miserable. If that was not enough, the accidental falls, lacerations and worsening eyesight added to his misery and the people living around him. Many unsavoury words were hurled out of frustrations. 

So, when the day of reckoning finally came, it was a relief of sorts. At least, that is how I looked at it. Released from the distresses of the mortal life, he could be free in the netherworld, free of aches and pangs.

Albert Camus
1957 Nobel Prize in Literature

But, came the funeral; the very people who were frustrated with his demands were the first to have no qualms in displaying their emotive expressions of sorrow. They were shameless with their verbose exhibition of grief. Weepers behaved as if they were young orphans who were left in a quandary of losing a sole remaining parent. And I had the queasy feeling that they expected the same of me.

I wondered what they thought of me as I went on to do the final rites. I, too, was asking myself whether I had psychopathic tendencies for not sharing their same sentiments. I was relieved that he was free of his miseries and could take a long sleep, knowing very well that he did not have to wake up to another day, endure its uncertainties and drag through another 24 hours of pain. He was free from any encumbrances. 

I did not think mourners shared my viewpoints. In their minds, certain conduct is expected of a member in a particular community, barring which he is scorned upon. He would be labelled as deviant, not right in his head, not fit to be one of them.

The same sentiments must have been felt by the protagonist of Camus' 1942 novella 'The Stranger'. Arthur Mersault, a free thinker, is informed of his mother's death in a retirement home. Mersault never had a cordial relationship with his mother but, looking at it as his filial duty, he attends to the final rites. He merely whisks through the rituals without much attachment to his loss. He even declines the offer to see his mother's body for the last time before the coffin is nailed. 

The weekend following the funeral saw Mersault go for a swim, a movie with his girlfriend and an outing by a beach. He also helps his acquaintance, an unsavoury character, who is rumoured to be a pimp, to pen a threatening letter to his two-timing girlfriend. 

When Mersault is finally charged in the second half of the story for the murder of the brother of the pimp's girlfriend, his character is implied from his earlier behaviours. The clearly conservative legal system finds Mersault guilty as he is deemed a person of low morals and without a guiding stand in life because of his irreligiosity. In the 'righteous' jury mind, a person who is so nonchalant about the demise of the person who gave him life would not provide an iota of hesitation and remorse to gun down a defenceless Arab boy.

That is how it is. We are left to stay afloat on this journey of life without its purpose and try to find answers as we go on. We are doubtful about our perception, but we still convince ourselves that we have all answers. We try to reassure ourselves by spreading and forcing our beliefs on others. The more a lie is repeated, it eventually becomes the truth. We become more cocksure by the numbers. Any revolt against this status quo creates cognitive dissonance, the mental discomfort and frustrations about all the time and effort wasted upon a dogma. And we would fight it with tooth and nail.

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Easier to go with the flow...

The Conformist (Italian, 1970)

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

With rhetoric like "you're either with us or against us!", there is a pressure for most of us to conform. The daily bombardment of an overdose of information in the social media puts its followers in a quandary. The urgency to submit to the flavour of the moment and to be on the right side of history is quite confusing.   

No man is an island. Living in a society, we are all interdependent. When one's own survival is dependent on goodwill and patronage of the others,  he would not want to offend the others' sensitivity; he would just conform or at least appear to. 

In the current world climate and the country's political scenario, the need to follow the majority is very real. Merely following the tide is, of course, less tiring. Fighting back and arguing your stand may sometimes be an act of futility. Arguing with stupid and zombies is never easy. It takes a certain kind of resilient to debate with people who set with their beliefs and are not ready to accept other opinions. Perhaps, they are fearful of losing the favour of the majority. 

Go with the flow...

This timepiece flick from 1970 is set in the trying times of the 1930s Italy when Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party members were overrunning the country. It tells of a disturbed man from the upper crust of society trying to be 'normal' in society. He tries to conform to the trend of the times without for a moment, taking a step back to ponder whether the action that he is about to do is the right thing to do. 

As in the observation of Plato in the Cave Allegory, people create their own perception of the world and are hellbent on living on that conviction. They resist any challenge to that belief because reassessing their stand merely is too taxing. It is easier to go with the flow...

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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He stirred the hornet's nest!

The Mattei Affair (Italian, Il Caso Mattei; 1972)


Heard about this guy through Hussain Najadi's autobiography. Enrico Mattei, a self made entrepreneur from a humble beginning. He started working in tannery industry at the age of 15 only to climb the social ladder to be a threat to the Anglo-American oil cartel.

His path crossed with Najadi when both were trying to get Kuwait's oil industry going. Unlike Najadi who missed an ill-fated flight to cheat death in 1963, Mattei succumbed to one.
This offering is an Italian documentary trying to outline the events leading to his untimely death. Foul play has always been suggested. Even the journalist who tried to investigate his death mysteriously disappeared and was never found.

Enrico Mattei

Growing up in WW2 Italy, he became Mussolini's Fascist party inactive member. He later became a Christian Democrat and a nationalist. He tried to sell the idea of mining methane gas in Northern Italy. Even though initially ridiculed as a Fascist's propaganda, he managed to drill natural gas and a little petrol there, stimulating local industry. Through companies ENI and AGIP, he tried to drill petrol in countries like Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Iran and China.

He incurred the wrath of the kingpin of the oil industries at time who dictated how oil should be drilled and how much should be paid to the producing nations. He offered higher remuneration and even financed pre-Independent Algeria.

Mattei named the oil cartel as the 'Seven Sisters' - 7 Anglo American companies including Standard Oil, Shell, Texaco, Gulf Oil etc.
Even though the cause of his plane crash remain a mystery, the consensus is that a bomb could have been planted in the tail of plane either by the CIA, French secret police or the Sicilian mafia.

A little cat arrives where a few big dogs are eating in a pot. The dogs attack him and toss him away. We Italians are like that little cat: in that pot there is oil for everybody, but someone does not want to let us get close to it.

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Life, told in many words

La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life, Italian; 1961)

This is not your typical film with a beginning, build-up, climax, resolution and ending. This Italian flick is actually a sort of a diary of a week in the life of gossip journalist @paparazzi, Marcello. It narrates day to day account of his life.

In between all that, we, the audience, are shown the decadent lifestyle of the the post WW2 1960s Italy with its outwardly religious outlook with wayward lifestyle being the order of the day. Poverty is rife amidst the lure and glorification of the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

The opening scene of the film starts with a helicopter hoisting a statue of Jesus across an effluent neighbourhood mocking the second coming. Slowly we are shown Marcello's hectic schedule. He has to put up with a possessive and obsessive fiancé who keep on demanding attention from him. He has to divide his time between the demanding job and near suicidal girlfriend. The hero is no angel either. His roving eyes seeks out one beauty after another, hoping to find that elusive love. On the first night, it was a beautiful heiress, Maddalena.

His job introduces him to an alluring bosomy Swedish-American actress, Sylvia, who visits Rome. He starts to chaperone her around after she is abandoned by her forever drunk boyfriend, fellow actor. Marcello is attracted to her physical appearance but the end of the night, he realises that it is all just tease!

This oft repeated classic fountain scene

The following day, it was a whole day affair for Marcello and his crew. The media people were all drawn in to an urban poor housing area by the sighting of an apparition of Mother Mary near a tree. Obviously, many are trying to benefit from the fame that it brought. Unfortunately, the stampede that ensued also trampled a child whose mother pleads for God to heal.
Marcello also has a meeting with an old friend, Steiner. He seems to be a man of philosophy, theology and sense. He is also a loving father of two beautiful kids.
Hold behold, even this man of sane mind, unexpectedly, kills himself after shooting his kids. And Marcello is at the scene trying to make sense of all these.

On another day, Marcello has a surprise visit from his father - a man whom he never knew as he was growing up. He discovers that his father is a lady's man and a lady killer too! The short visit ended with the senior having a mild heart attack and returning home.
Marcello also has literary ambitions but the lure of the high life, the parties and the girls are just too much for him to keep away. He has a final violent and abusive showdown with his unstable fiancé but in the end, they make up and make out.
This classic offering by a legendary director, Federico Fellini, is often emulated by young directors again and again. It is also mentioned in popular culture.

Bondage of nostalgia?

Cinema Paradiso (aka Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Italian, 1988)

There was a time when nostalgia was a bad word. Individuals stuck in the memory of the past were considered medically unsound. Soldiers returning from the Great War who suffered from what we now term as post-traumatic stress disorder (PPSD) were said to be suffering from a disease called 'nostalgia'.

On the other hand, many industries thrive on the memory of the past. Of late, there is a concerted effort to rekindle the memory of the past for economic reasons and to generate business. Even yours truly have been told not to be trapped in the past but to come out and smell the flowers. To them, I say, history repeats itself, and one who does not know where he came from will not reach where he is heading to! Anyway, this blog kind of glorifies the past and tries to rekindle memories of the bygone era.
This is precisely what the story in this film is NOT advocating, in a way, at least.

The movie starts with a mother desperately trying to contact her son, whom she had not seen for 30 years, to inform her that a friend, Alfredo, had died. The son in question, nicknamed Toto, receives the news of an avalanche of florid memories of his childhood in the late 1940s in a small town in Sicily.
As he narrates, in flashbacks, we understand Toto's father was a soldier in the Italian Army who probably died in his mission to Russia. Toto's single mother has a hard time trying to maintain sanity with 2 young children, Toto, a precious pre-teen and his younger sister. Toto has a fixation with the local cinema, which screens old black and white movies and the cranky projectionist Alfredo. Toto also helps out as an altar boy to the local priest who vets all films before it is screened. The priest, the moral guardian of the town is quite particular that Alfredo snips off any scene deemed too promiscuous, especially kissing scenes!

Toto tries very hard to befriend Alfredo to get into the projection room but in vain until a fire breaks out in the room. Toto manages to save Alfredo at the expense of Alfredo's eyes.
With the grace of the local town folks, Toto mans the screening of movies. Alfredo and Toto develop a strong bond. Alfredo acts as a father figure that Toto never had. Even when he becomes a teenager, he confides in him about his love interest.

The film goes on to highlight many of the small things that happen in the theatre, the regular patrons, the profit-minded owner and the antics of sharing the reels between two cinema houses. Toto grows older, serves his time in the Army, and returns home to find that his high-heeled girlfriend had jilted him and to progress nowhere in life. It is at this juncture that Alfredo insists that Toto should be cruel and self-centred to leave all his baggage and commitments behind to migrate to the big towns to carve a name for himself.

The nuvuo cinema paradiso

Sure enough, when Toto returns to attend Alfredo's funeral, he realises that, in hindsight, the significance of Alfredo's advice. Whilst he had become a famous film director, the cinema crowd had grown significantly old and directionless in that small town. To top it all, the old cinema hall, which had seen better times and had given so many people so much joy, pleasant memories and good times, was scheduled to be mowed down to give way to a parking lot. If only he had stayed back, he would another statistic in the band of old men with nothing to show in the present time but a bucket of tall stories and the splendours of yesteryear.

A moving movie for the romantics and those who would like to immerse themselves in a little bit of nostalgia.

A tour promo

Journey to Italy (1954)
Director: Roberto Rosselini
Continuing in her 'outcast' years in Italian neo-realism, Ingrid Bergman continues with another movie which essentially showcases what Naples has to offer to tourist - the villas, museums, the morbid past history and lazy pace of life. In this setting, Katherine and Alex (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders), a British couple married for 8 years, drive to Naples to dispose off a deceased relative's property. We can see that they are undergoing a rough patch in their relationship. Their going to Italy and taking a long journey is their attempt at reconciliation and rekindling the spark. It obviously does not seem to be working. This uppity couple arrive in their Bentley driving through the country roads complaining about the bugs and unruly drivers.
While waiting for a potential buyer, they mix with the upper crust of society, the rich, bourgeois and royalties. All that relaxing does not mend their relationship. On the contrary, it just invokes more hatred, jealousy and annoyance with each other.
They try separate itinerary for each other; Alex goes to Island of Capri, Katherine visits various museums. All in vain. Alex is a cynical critic whilst Katherine is a hopeless romantic.
When all attempts fail, they decide on a divorce. As they plan to return home, they are caught in a religious street procession. Miraculously (divine intervention or otherwise), as Katherine is caught in a stampede. Alex who goes to her rescue and both realise that the flame is still there.
 Rosselini's movies that he did with Bergman has these undertones that mirror their sordid relationship which was admonished by the general public. Even though his five films with her never reached the accolades achieved by his earlier films (Rome, Open City, 1945 and Paisa, 1946), his later films nevertheless never lost its artistic value. Pandit Jawarhalal, impressed with Rosselini's filmmaking of involving the lay people, invited him over to India to make a film on India. His attempt was cut short after Rosselini, whilst married to Bergman, created an international controversy by seducing a married Indian filmmaker's wife (Sonali Das Gupta). It also effectively ended his union with Bergman.

The letter that ignited the greatest love story between two individuals at the peak of their careers.

Dear Mr. Rossellini,
I saw your films Open City and Paisan, and enjoyed them very much. If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only "ti amo", I am ready to come and make a film with you.
Ingrid Bergman