I Caught it that time. Thanks for explaining to me Jonathan. I actually did watch part of it today the part where they go back across the river and get to bodies for burial. I saw the part you mentioned with the snow and they hoping it would rain to wash away his footprints. I usually try to avoid any movies with subtitles but I'm glad you recommended this one and I thoroughly enjoyed it.Okay, let's explore this. With the exception of the four "dream" sequences, the visionary flash-back of the partisans waiting for their execution and the flash-forward to the end of the war in the climax, the film takes place over the course of about twenty-four hours that are bracketed by Ivan crossing the river... from the German to the Russian side and then back again. The film itself begins and ends with a "dream" sequence, the other two occur when Ivan falls asleep after his first crossing and immediately before he wakes up to make the second one, in both transitions there is water dripping eerily. Each of the sequences includes some life-sustaining examples of water... in the buckets and the well as drink, the rains for crops and the waters of the beach for leisure, but each of the sequences also contains foreboding elements and musical cues with abrupt transitions into the harsh reality of the war (this holds true for the final sequence as I hinted at in my previous post).
While water is undoubtedly the most prominent symbol deployed in the film, there are other recurring features such as the dead tree from which the two Russian scouts have been hanged as a warning... important is its presence in the final "dream" sequence, intruding on the children's play. The final frame of the movie is the abrupt cut to black as Ivan runs with reckless abandon and unexpectedly slams into it. There are other things repeated in the film such as the record playing the song lyric in which Masha is told not to go beyond the river. This is the name, not coincidentally, of the lady army doctor who is sent away from the front line and complies with the order... Ivan is also ordered away to the safety of military school, but he refuses --- the boy instead crosses the river to the German side. Three times the "writing on the wall" is shown, etchings of the partisans shortly before their execution crying out for their deaths to be avenged. Ivan, we are told through conversation among the army officers, had joined the partisans after his mother and sister (the girl in the third and fourth "dream" sequences) were killed by the Germans. The boy, having a visionary encounter with the partisans, takes up their cause and that of his murdered family, acting out his "play" fantasies with the knife he has been loaned for the night.
After Ivan departs from the two officers who have accompanied him across to the German side of the river, one of them remarks that he wished it was raining so the boy's footprints in the clay would be obscured... instead it begins only to lightly snow, signaling both the beginning of winter and the likelihood Ivan will be tracked by the Nazis who are patrolling the swamp area. The coming of winter, falling asleep and crossing rivers are all ancient metaphors for death... and if you still have access to the online rental, I would recommend watching the flash-forward to the end of the war as it explicitly but briefly reveals Ivan's fate after he crosses back to the German side of the river. I wasn't sure, on reading your earlier comments about Ivan "going forward with his life after the war", whether you caught the significance of the dossier the Russian officer picks up in the ruins of Berlin...
Kind regards,
Jonathan
History of Film
- Thread starter En Hakkore
- Start date
I Caught it that time. Thanks for explaining to me Jonathan. I actually did watch part of it today the part where they go back across the river and get to bodies for burial. I saw the part you mentioned with the snow and they hoping it would rain to wash away his footprints. I usually try to avoid any movies with subtitles but I'm glad you recommended this one and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
En Hakkore
Well-known member
Uh oh, a lot of the movies on my "highly recommended" list are subtitled foreign films!
So to wrap up our exploration (at least for now) of Ivan's Childhood, the boy was captured by the Nazis and executed by hanging, the harsh reality for a number of children who joined the partisans... a tragic fate foreshadowed throughout the film and one that could have been avoided had Ivan heeded the warning not the cross the river again in pursuit of revenge. The film neither glorifies the war as pre-Thaw Stalinist Soviet movies had done nor deprives Ivan of the full range of human emotions and flaws by draping him in a sentimental cloak of childhood innocence.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Uh oh, a lot of the movies on my "highly recommended" list are subtitled foreign films!
So to wrap up our exploration (at least for now) of Ivan's Childhood, the boy was captured by the Nazis and executed by hanging, the harsh reality for a number of children who joined the partisans... a tragic fate foreshadowed throughout the film and one that could have been avoided had Ivan heeded the warning not the cross the river again in pursuit of revenge. The film neither glorifies the war as pre-Thaw Stalinist Soviet movies had done nor deprives Ivan of the full range of human emotions and flaws by draping him in a sentimental cloak of childhood innocence.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Oh yes... on subtitled foreign films I'm willing to explore new areas and learn new things. The subtitles in Ivan's Childhood were easy to deal with as they were short and precise and didn't distract from what was going on in the scene. And thanks again for your synopsis. That's why I like to listen to people that know what they're talking about, because I learn stuff. I did check for more films like Ivan's Childhood And I watched a few trailers from some of them. But I wasn't able to find any that looked near as good. So please feel free to recommend whatever you feel would be appropriate. The same goes for our next topic.Uh oh, a lot of the movies on my "highly recommended" list are subtitled foreign films!
So to wrap up our exploration (at least for now) of Ivan's Childhood, the boy was captured by the Nazis and executed by hanging, the harsh reality for a number of children who joined the partisans... a tragic fate foreshadowed throughout the film and one that could have been avoided had Ivan heeded the warning not the cross the river again in pursuit of revenge. The film neither glorifies the war as pre-Thaw Stalinist Soviet movies had done nor deprives Ivan of the full range of human emotions and flaws by draping him in a sentimental cloak of childhood innocence.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Have a good day Jonathan.
En Hakkore
Well-known member
Phew... if I could only recommend English-language films the thread wouldn't last much longer! (joking)
In keeping with the period in and around WWII, undoubtedly one of the most significant movements in film was that of Italian Neorealism in the early post-war period. While short-lived because of the political situation within Italy, its impact on cinema around the world has been enormous... almost all films in the 'realistic' mode since trace back in one way or another to what the Neorealists attempted to do in the destruction left by the fascists, first Mussolini and then the brief but devastating Nazi occupation. The core group of Neorealist filmmakers was comprised of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti, the first two directing the five widely-accepted 'masterpieces' of Neorealist cinema when it was at its peak --- Rossellini's 'War Trilogy' consisting of Rome, Open City (1945), Paisà (1946) and Germany Year Zero (1948) and De Sica's Shoeshine (1946) and Bicycle Thieves (1948). I've linked to three trailers below, one each for De Sica's films and one for Rossellini's trilogy, and I'd be happy to explore any or all of these films with you. The trailer for Shoeshine is unfortunately poorly done and gives little sense of what the film is about... it has the honor of being the first foreign film recognized at the Academy Awards at a time when there was no category as such. This movie, Bicycle Thieves and Germany Year Zero are my three favorites. Rome, Open City is also good, as is Paisà, though it is my least favorite of the five due to its episodic format. Shoeshine (search: Shoeshine 1946 and it should be the first video to come up titled Sciuscià -V. De Sica , 1946 Eng. Subs) and Germany Year Zero (search: Deutschland im Jahre Null Germany, Year Zero 1948 Roberto Rossellini) appear to be currently available for free on YouTube with English subtitles, Bicycle Thieves and Rome, Open City for rental. Check your own subscription sources to see if any of them are available there for free or rental...
Kind regards,
Jonathan
This stuff is so cool Jonathan and I want to thank you again for taking the time to point this film history out to me. I've probably told you five times how much I like to learn things. I had to look up Neorealists and I found that really interesting. I watched all three of the trailers and the one that caught my eye was Bicycle Thieves and I decided I would start with it. The same deal, I can rent it for under three bucks so my retirement fund doesn't take that big of a hit. And I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it. I read the plot and I could totally relate to it. I've been stuck many times in my life not having a clue of what I was going to do next. But having the will to put 1 foot in front of the other to get myself out of the mess I was in.
So on this assignment with bicycle thieves I plan to pay much more attention and not only get my three bucks worth But also enjoy someone's creative genius and the message behind the film. Not to mention the skill of the actors. What I noticed from the trailer of bicycle thieves was the facial expressions on the dads face. I would imagine that to be a big part of acting. That and body language. Like with Ivan when they kept telling he needed to go to military school and stop fighting the war. The way his body language and voice got all defiant. And his face was set like flint determined to do it his way. Pretty good acting from a young guy back in those days.
Oh good news... I just got a call from my financial planner and she said go ahead and rent the movie.
So I'll get back to you soon Jonathan, you take care.
En Hakkore
Well-known member
Good choice... of course, any of them would be a good choice to start with!
You're welcome and thanks for introducing me to Vaudeville, which I'd previously read about only in passing.
Fantastic! I'm sure glad she did that... I eagerly await what you turn in for your "assignment"!
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Good choice... of course, any of them would be a good choice to start with!
You're welcome and thanks for introducing me to Vaudeville, which I'd previously read about only in passing.
Fantastic! I'm sure glad she did that... I eagerly await what you turn in for your "assignment"!
Kind regards,
Jonathan
I totally enjoyed Bicycle Thieves. It was very suspenseful. The best part for me was right at the end before it started to fade to black and his son reached up and took his hand like to comfort him. I have it for a three day rental so I plan on watching it at least two more times. I'm hoping to get more understanding from it as far as my assignment goes. In the meantime I cheated and looked it up. I'm glad I did because now I know what to look for next time I watch it.
Why You Should Still Care About ‘Bicycle Thieves’ - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
I'm also watching this one now as it's free on prime video:
American movies influenced by “Bicycle Thieves” include “Wendy and Lucy,” starring Michelle Williams.
Oh one other thing. As far as the subtitles go I'm starting to get used to them now, I'm able to read them fast and not letting them distract from the film. I'm thinking the more foreign films I watch the better I'll get at it.
So this is a win-win for me. I'm enjoying myself and I'm learning stuff. Thanks for all your help Jonathan and have a good evening.
En Hakkore
Well-known member
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie... its plot can be summarized as a man trying to track down the individual who stole his bicycle, which on first glance appears trite, even boring, but as you've discovered, it is a complex and profound exploration of society and how something one person might consider trivial (the theft of a bicycle) can be life-altering and devastating for another... an exercise in empathy, illustrated by the scene to which you refer in which Bruno, understanding his father's shame and pain, reaches up to take his hand in comfort.
To compliment or supplement what you've read, Italian Neorealism focused on the plight of the working and under-classes in the wake of the war's devastation... in the case of De Sica's two films he takes up the first in Bicycle Thieves and the second in Shoeshine. This film and Rossellini's Germany Year Zero are comparatively much 'darker' films... while Bruno is embedded within a struggling but loving family, the boys in the other two films are in home situations that are dysfunctional to varying degrees, problems compounded by the economic collapse brought about by the war that force them into underground markets and seedy sources of income with tragic outcomes in both cases. One thing I would recommend to watch for on your second viewing of Bicycle Thieves is the use within Neorealist films of the child as a symbol of the people.
You're welcome and thanks... have a good day and I'll be back tomorrow evening to see if you have any further thoughts after your second viewing.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
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Had a busy day yesterday and couldn't devote the time that I wanted to for Bicycle Thieves but I'm all into it today.
The first thing that strikes me is why Antonio is just sitting off to the side by himself at the government office when everyone else is crowded around government official trying to get some work. They're all complaining about starving and they're willing to do any kind of work. I've actually been there done that. I was going through a rough time when I lived in Apple Valley California and I travel to Hesperia to this day labor company. It was kind of the same thing like in the film. Sign in and they have your profile and as job comes up that you qualify for they send you out. What was cool about it was they paid you at the end of the day. And if you get a reputation for working hard and doing a great job you would be the first one to get called out for a job the next day. And it really helped if he had a vehicle which I did.
So I know how it helps your self-esteem to be able to provide for yourself and your family. And I understand the letdown Antonio felt when he thought he had a job and realized he didn't because he pawned his bicycle to provide food for his family.
One of the interesting things I learned was the directors of these films liked to use actors that had no prior acting skills or training. So rather than get well rehearsed reactions we sort of get raw emotions which I think are easier to relate to.
I've learned so much from watching this film and I could go on and on about each scene but the best thing I've come to understand is how much films can teaches about ... all of its ups and downs and how we relate to each other whether for good or bad.
I think each scene in this film does a good job of that.
As far as children being used as a symbol of the people. They definitely are being the up-and-coming next-generation. And there's a lot to be said about them. Like what does the current generation teach them from how they've conducted themselves. What do they leave them as in this case a war-torn and ravaged Europe. What's interesting to me is how some of the children will respond in a positive manner and some will not even though they're faced with the same circumstances.
Take for instance the first bicycle thief when Antonio catches up with him. He was very good at playing the sympathy card. Rather than try to get work he was fine with being a bicycle thief.
Like I said there's so much in each scene of this movie to learn from. I'll never look at films the same way again. Rather than looking to them for entertainment I'm hoping to find life lessons.
En Hakkore
Well-known member
Thanks for sharing... I can see how your personal experiences allowed you to connect with this film in a way that I could not.
Yes, the emphasis is on visualization of emotion --- facial expressions and particularly the depth of emotion conveyed through the eyes. Enzo Staiola, the boy who plays Bruno, may have been selected specifically for his eyes according to an anecdote shared by the actor (see video link below) and one of the most important scenes in the film captures his gaze as he watches his father ride by on the bike he has resorted to stealing. Another important feature of Italian films generally of the period, not just those of the neorealists, is the dubbing of other actors' voices onto the audio track, an artificiality that lays a heavier burden on the visual to convey the requisite emotion.
I'm glad that watching this film has been so beneficial to you.
The idea of children as the future is a common one, proffered both in cinema and in general discourses circulating in society, but if I might suggest an alternative way in which the neorealist filmmakers (also) conceptualized the child in their films. Antonio's desire to provide for his family and willingness to work is admirable and one can and should empathize with his plight, but he is also a flawed character who neglects his parental duties --- indeed, there is a reversal of roles in the film between father and son. The viewer is introduced to Bruno in the home polishing the bike and tending to his infant sibling, he opens the window to let the light in, an action highly infused with symbolism of his role throughout the duration of the movie. He is dressed for work and, prior to his father securing the poster job, has been the one providing for the family with his job at the petrol station. The boy symbolizes the working-class Italian people and their resiliency --- he is constantly being bumped or hit by adults, tripping and getting up. He is also imbued with innocence, as children are generally in cinema, which positions him opposite two guilty adult parties associated with fascism. Much more could be said about Bruno and other kids who feature in the film in minor roles, but I need to hold back a few gems for the book...
Ah yes, the young man who steals Antonio's bike early on in the film... it is not clear whether the seizure he suffers when caught and facing charges is real or staged to illicit sympathy and evade arrest. His mother comes out onto the street and holds him pietà style, one of several religious cues in the film. There is a subtle prop associated with this unrepentant thief --- his hat, which is a German army cap and which aligns him with the Nazis who had occupied the country following Mussolini's downfall. As you note, he is the first thief... the second is Antonio himself, who is symbolically aligned with the Italian fascists --- he is patriarchal, ordering Bruno about, he slaps him at one point, there is no physical affection expressed for his son, he is absorbed in his pursuit of the bike and neglects the boy who is nearly run over by cars on a couple of occasions, and even the trip to the restaurant is far from altruistic as it is functionally a bribe so Bruno will not tell his mother about the slap as he has threatened to. My intent is not to paint Antonio as evil, but realistically as a flawed man in need of redemption.
Films -- at least the good ones -- function on multiple levels and Bicycle Thieves is rich in this regard. I hope you were able to watch it a third time with the idea of Christian allegory in mind re: my brief off-thread comment. I've dropped a number of hints in this thread about it and I look forward to your further comments...
Kind regards,
Jonathan
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Sorry I'm taking so long getting back to you Jonathan and I appreciate your post. I'll Get a reply out you soon.Thanks for sharing... I can see how your personal experiences allowed you to connect with this film in a way that I could not.
Yes, the emphasis is on visualization of emotion --- facial expressions and particularly the depth of emotion conveyed through the eyes. Enzo Staiola, the boy who plays Bruno, may have been selected specifically for his eyes according to an anecdote shared by the actor (see video link below) and one of the most important scenes in the film captures his gaze as he watches his father ride by on the bike he has resorted to stealing. Another important feature of Italian films generally of the period, not just those of the neorealists, is the dubbing of other actors' voices onto the audio track, an artificiality that lays a heavier burden on the visual to convey the requisite emotion.
I'm glad that watching this film has been so beneficial to you.
The idea of children as the future is a common one, proffered both in cinema and in general discourses circulating in society, but if I might suggest an alternative way in which the neorealist filmmakers (also) conceptualized the child in their films. Antonio's desire to provide for his family and willingness to work is admirable and one can and should empathize with his plight, but he is also a flawed character who neglects his parental duties --- indeed, there is a reversal of roles in the film between father and son. The viewer is introduced to Bruno in the home polishing the bike and tending to his infant sibling, he opens the window to let the light in, an action highly infused with symbolism of his role throughout the duration of the movie. He is dressed for work and, prior to his father securing the poster job, has been the one providing for the family with his job at the petrol station. The boy symbolizes the working-class Italian people and their resiliency --- he is constantly being bumped or hit by adults, tripping and getting up. He is also imbued with innocence, as children are generally in cinema, which positions him opposite two guilty adult parties associated with fascism. Much more could be said about Bruno and other kids who feature in the film in minor roles, but I need to hold back a few gems for the book...
Ah yes, the young man who steals Antonio's bike early on in the film... it is not clear whether the seizure he suffers when caught and facing charges is real or staged to illicit sympathy and evade arrest. His mother comes out onto the street and holds him pietà style, one of several religious cues in the film. There is a subtle prop associated with this unrepentant thief --- his hat, which is a German army cap and which aligns him with the Nazis who had occupied the country following Mussolini's downfall. As you note, he is the first thief... the second is Antonio himself, who is symbolically aligned with the Italian fascists --- he is patriarchal, ordering Bruno about, he slaps him at one point, there is no physical affection expressed for his son, he is absorbed in his pursuit of the bike and neglects the boy who is nearly run over by cars on a couple of occasions, and even the trip to the restaurant is far from altruistic as it is functionally a bribe so Bruno will not tell his mother about the slap as he has threatened to. My intent is not to paint Antonio as evil, but realistically as a flawed man in need of redemption.
Films -- at least the good ones -- function on multiple levels and Bicycle Thieves is rich in this regard. I hope you were able to watch it a third time with the idea of Christian allegory in mind re: my brief off-thread comment. I've dropped a number of hints in this thread about it and I look forward to your further comments...
Kind regards,
Jonathan
En Hakkore
Well-known member
No worries... I took a couple days myself to reply! Enjoy your evening.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Okay moving right along! Thanks for posting the interview with grown up Bruno. He had a lot of good insight and comments about the movie. I wasn't able to view bicycle thieves one last time in order to keep an eye out for a religious overtone although I'm sure it's there. One thing I noticed when Antonio's wife wanted him to take a side trip after they got the bicycle out of hawk to pay the fortuneteller lady. It's interesting to note that she wanted to help the family out by Antonio getting work but rather than go straight to God in prayer she sought out a Go-between. I'm not an expert but that's sort of makes me think of the Catholic religion which I'm sure was the predominant religion in Italy at that time. Well yeah were talking Rome here. Antonio's comment about her having money to throw away and his leaving the bicycle to be watched over by a youngster shows his concern over what his wife was up to and his disapproval.
The ironic part is that he goes back by himself to get a word about finding the bike. And his word from the fortuneteller lady was rather doom and gloom. The other scene that caught my attention was after Antonio smacked Bruno and takes him to a restaurant as a way of alleviating his guilt was quite interesting. Especially the way he got Bruno to add up how much money he could make in a month if he had the bike back. Almost like he was wrapping up his future on finding the bike. That may have something to do with why he swiped the bike he saw sitting there alone.
So once again thank you for pointing me toward bicycle thieves as I really got a lot out of it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
What I'm doing now is looking through prime video to see what they have that goes along with this thread. I found a couple of movies about cinematography that I'm checking out. One is Keepers of the Magic. Here's a short summary:
Keepers of the Magic celebrates the breathtaking cinematic images that have transfixed audiences around the world. This ground-breaking documentary explores our fascination with moving images and provides insight into how cinema's most iconic moments came to be. Most of all, it honors the great masters of cinematography, unsung heroes whose vision and talent was always right before our eyes.
I'm learning a lot from it, mostly about lighting and color. How they can film during the day and then make it look like it was nighttime.
Glad to hear that you are holding some of your opinions about bicycle thieves back as you're going to use them in your book. That's awesome, I'm glad that you have that goal in your life. I read some of your posts on other threads and you really have a wonderful ability to communicate your thoughts so I know your book is going to be dynamite!
So have a blessed day Jonathan.
En Hakkore
Well-known member
Yes, De Sica was a Catholic, though he was critical of the Church's alliance with Mussolini during the fascist years and at times paints a negative picture of organized religion -- recall the priest who hits Bruno when the boy opens the confessional looking for the old man or the heap of icons piled in a back room of the church building. As you were not able to get back to the film for another viewing with Christian allegory in mind, I'll keep my comments about it brief but follow through on the hints in my earlier post. The plural thieves in the film's title refers primarily to Alfredo (though he had accomplices in his bicycle theft) and Antonio --- while technically incorrect with respect to terminology, the idea that Jesus was crucified along with two thieves is widespread in the popular imagination and an allegory based on Luke's version is evident in the movie. Alfredo remains unrepentant, but Antonio appears to be on the path to redemption after being let go by the owner of the bicycle he stole and implicitly forgiven by Bruno -- the moral compass in the movie and a type of Christ -- who reaches up compassionately in the end to take his father's hand.
You're welcome... it is the most well-known of the Italian neorealist films and is central in terms of references and visuals in the video linked below, which is a 40-minute video essay by film scholar Mark Shiel who, the year before this video was produced, published his contribution to the Short Cuts: Introduction to Film Studies series: Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City (Wallflower, 2006). The essay can either conclude our exploration into neorealist filmmaking or spark further discussion of some of the other films I mentioned. Based on our discussions before this thread on the biblical story of Joseph, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that De Sica's earlier film Shoeshine focuses on a boy named Giuseppe (Joseph in Italian) who is unjustly sent to a juvenile prison along with his best friend Pasquale --- the evocation of the Genesis story is deliberate, though the ending is a tragic one unlike its biblical counterpart.
If you are satisfied (at least for now) with our coverage of Italian neorealism, we could move on to a movie of your choice from your forays on Prime mentioned here... alternatively, we could circle back to the early days of cinema through a more recent film that explores the period as one of 'magic' --- totally up to you.
Thanks for the encouraging words! Just a heads up that I will be away from the boards this weekend to finish up the abstract for the paper I'll be presenting later in the spring... I think I'd mentioned this a while back so you wouldn't be surprised with upcoming absences.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Thanks for sharing your insight about the two thieves and Jesus. I never would've saw that now it makes a lot more sense. What's truly amazing to me is how these old films are so deep and have so much in them to learn from. I would imagine the normal way of thinking would be that they are just old movies made before movie making really became good. It might just be the other way around. So I'm definitely going with Shoeshine next. I'll get it this morning and I have three days to view it. After my first viewing I will comment on it in a post and if you have time before your presentation maybe you could give me a heads up on what to look out for so I can understand it better in my next viewing.
Even though I don't have bicycle thieves available for viewing I do have it in my head. So I can take the things that you point out, think about them and still visualize the in my head. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity of you taking your time teaching me and interpreting this stuff for me. So I definitely don't want to miss this opportunity.
I'm really kind of blown away after you explained bicycle thieves to me. I've been sitting here thinking about Antonio and the other thief symbolizing the two thieves on the cross, man it fits perfect.
Okay Jonathan you have a good day don't work too hard getting ready for your presentation and enjoy yourself.
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En Hakkore
Well-known member
I would concur that much contemporary filmmaking (at least here in North America) is lacking in depth... I like cool special effects as much as the next guy (or gal), but when these become the focus rather than the plot or character development, the resultant story is empty. Effects should support the story, not be the story.
I'll be gone after tonight until Monday, but I'm just finishing the abstract at this point --- I won't finish the paper for another couple months and won't present it for a couple months after that. An abstract is usually no more than a couple hundred words in length and summarizes the paper... it is used to evaluate whether a paper is suitable for a particular conference and, if accepted, helps the conference organizers group the papers together by theme as sessions often run concurrently --- conference-goers must choose which sessions to attend, based on these themes and reading the abstracts. In other words, it's a short but very important piece of writing that will ultimately determine if one's paper gets to the conference and how many people will sit in to listen to your presentation!
I hope you find Shoeshine a worthy addition to the growing group of films we've been exploring --- as noted previously, it was the first foreign film to be recognized at the Academy Awards and is my personal favorite among the neorealist films because of the Joseph connections. A few things to look out for would be the religious iconography (the prison was formerly a convent), the significance of the diegetic cinema sequence and its aftermath, the motif of (figurative) blindness, the boys as representatives of the Italian people and the meaning of tragedy. Enjoy your viewing(s) and your weekend... I'll be back on Monday to continue our forays into the history of film!
Kind regards,
Jonathan
When I was a kid, back in the mid-70s, we moved to Pitman, NJ for about three years.
Pitman was originally an old Methodist retreat, so it was a dry town, but had this big, palatial theater from the 1930s, back when going to the movies was a real event. It had been an old vaudeville theater, as well.
It was a dump. Just a complete shambles. They led a campaign to restore it to its former glory, and they did. The renovated theater was beautiful. Literally, each seat was restored, all the gold embellishments, the lights, the curtains, the boxes, etc.
They began to have shows there. I saw the Statler Brothers, Don Williams, The Cathedrals, Porter Wagoner, Oscar Peterson, Roy Clark and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, an early version of the oldies tours that you see on PBS, etc.
But more relevant to this thread, they would show classic films, as well as first run movies. So, I got to see Sunset Boulevard (and finally understood why Carol Burnett made all those weird faces on her show), Lost Horizon, The Searchers, which featured some of the finest cinematography in film history, Robin Hood, Mrs. Miniver, The Seven Year Itch, and lots of westerns and swashbuckler films. I think there might have been a Mr. Belvedere movie or maybe Abbot and Costello in there.
The usher would show you to your seat, the lights would go down, and it was exciting.
When Dorothy lands in Oz and suddenly you're hit with all of the colors, it just is amazing and siting in a tiny room in the local multiplex, which is the cinema equivalent of McDonalds isn't even in the same universe.
Although I'm not a big Star Wars fan, I pity any kid who did not get to see it on a big screen.
I really believe the reason movies are a dying artform is that going to the movies is a dead social experience. Generations now have no idea how majestic a movie on a big screen can be.
Yes I agree they really were quite an experience and a big part of our growing up. And the good news is we still love them. I'm glad you have those good memories.
En Hakkore
Well-known member
I was twenty months old when Star Wars came out so the first of the original trilogy movies I saw on the big screen was The Empire Strikes Back when I was 4yo... it blew me away and I became the biggest SW fan: SW toys, SW books, SW audio books, SW pajamas, SW bedding, you name it. I first saw Star Wars at home as a VHS rental back when this was new technology and finally on the big screen a couple years later when they re-released it as a double feature with Empire in the months leading up to Return of the Jedi... for those who were born afterward or weren't much into the series at the time, the anticipation for this movie was unreal --- the burning question on everyone's mind was whether Vader's claim to be Luke's father was true or a lie...
I'm not sure I would say movies as an art form are dying, but certainly that they are being transformed -- so far not for the better IMO -- and their consumption on smaller screens through both personal and service technologies are contributing heavily to this trajectory. An appreciation for the history of film and earlier movie-going experiences are important to share with the younger generations as I do think they are missing out, though I suspect they don't share in that evaluation!
Thanks for chiming in on the thread... please feel free to comment further as thoughtful engagement is always welcome or kick back and relax with a bag of popcorn, whichever you prefer. I noticed you mentioned Mr. Belvedere movies in passing --- as a kid of the 80s my introduction to the character was in the TV sitcom. It was only much later when I began studying film academically that I came across what I believe was the first movie to feature the character, Sitting Pretty (1948), which had a number of sequels.
Kind regards,
Jonathan