Esses Italianos

I have seen Made in Italy a long, long time ago, in my early days as a commedia all'italiana movie fan. In the tradition of Dino Risi's I Mostri, this comedy is a kaleidoscope of brief episodes loosely united in five chapters, all aimed at illustrating the life and times of those strange, exotic people : the Italians! The tonality of the film goes from outright vitriolic satire to quasi-anthropological vignettes. There are so many stars in the cast it's no use trying to count them all. As usual with a commedia all'italiana that works, comic moments abound, the feeling of reality is surprisingly strong and the actors are fabulous (don't miss Anna Magnani trying to cross a street with her smala of 10 to 12 children). As usual too, there are a couple punches that are deliberately not funny at all : a sine qua non rule of the genre. My memory being somewhat faded, I hesitate to rate it. Let's see : is it an 8, a 9 or a 10?

IT IS A TYPE OF FILM THAT HAS ALMOST DISAPPEARED: THE SPECTATOR IS PERMANENTLY ALLUDED AND PERMANENTLY HE IS OBLIGED TO REFLECT, BESIDES SMILING ... OR TO BE EXCITED. IT IS NOT ONLY A HUMORISTIC FILM, IT IS NOT ONLY A FILM OF SOCIAL CRITICISM, IT IS A TESTIMONIAL FILM OF A CULTURE. AND IT IS ALSO A BEAUTIFUL CINEMATOGRAPHIC WORK: WELL INTERPRETED, WELL PHOTOGRAPHED, WELL DIRECTED. THE 1960'S, ESPECIALLY IN ITALY, SHOWED UNFORGETTABLE WORKS IN THE INTELLIGENT LINE AND HIGH QUALITY LEVEL. IN SOME HAPPY WAY, THE STEPS OF "LA DOLCE VITA" BY FEDERICO FELLINI WERE FOLLOWED. AND "MADE IN ITALY" IS ALSO A TESTIMONY OF THE TERRIBLE FORCE OF CENSORSHIP: I HAVE SEEN THIS FILM THREE TIMES AND THE THREE TIMES HAD DIFFERENT DURATION. THE FIRST TIME WAS 1966 (AROUND 95 MINUTES OF LENGTH), THE SECOND TEN YEARS AGO (100 MINUTES) AND THE THIRD ONE WAS A FEW HOURS AGO (ABOUT 120 MINUTES). UNFORCEABLY IT IS NOT ONLY AN ANTIPATHIC FILM TO CONSERVATIVE MENTALITY BUT TO RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS. POVERTY, SELFISHNESS, IGNORANCE, SUFFERING ARE REFLECTED HERE IN AN IMPLACABLE FORM AT TIMES, BUT ALWAYS WITH A HIGH CONCEPT OF CINEMATOGRAPHIC ART. "MADE IN ITALY" IS, FROM ALL POINT OF VIEW, ONE OF THE TEN BEST ITALIAN FILMS OF ALL TIMES AND ONE OF THE GREATEST 100 OF THE WORLD CINEMATOGRAPHY.

Brilliant cast, excellent director's work,and the social problems (career,family and cultural issues,immigration,etc.)viewed with a bit of irony and just humour (at times),make this film a real masterpiece not only of Italian , but of the world cinema.We all take ourselves too seriously and suffer a lot from that distorted-mirror reflection.The film just reminds us that nobody and nothing is perfect in our world, and we should take a more forgiving and understanding attitude to the faux pas of our fellow co-travellers on this planet. The film also shows the typical traits of an Italian national character, which is another advantage of this piece of cinematic art.

The Latin spirit captured on film as if it were true, like filmed life itself. With lies, with jealousy, with pettiness, with snobbery, with the lack of good manners, with bigots, a lot of hypocrisy, etc., all human flaws are represented with great talent by Nanni Loy, the director of the film. A bunch of very good actors, many very dear to me, are in the cast: the huge Alberto Sordi, the great actress Anna Magnani, the charming Catherine Spaak, the beautiful Sylva Koscina, the splendid Virna Lisi, Lea Massari, Milena Vukotic, Nino Manfredi, Walter Chiari, Nino Castelnuovo, Lando Buzzanca. Watch it, it's good and loud, like the Italians!