AMARCORD (1973) - ♦♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Federico Fellini

Written by - Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra

Starring - Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia, Magali Noel

"The title AMARCORD comes from the Romagnol dialect, the dialect of FELLINI's birthplace, and seems specifically chosen not only to root the vision back to its filmmaker, but also because it seems like no other filmmaker could ever have done it. 

In this film, he aims to represent Italian society of the 1930s through a small microcosm made up of the inhabitants of a small town, the likes of which FELLINI knew well. The thirties in Italy were of course heavily marked by the Fascist rule, and the director observes the resulting oppression it along with the Catholic Church, and the way it reflected upon Italians, making them behave in immature and adolescent ways. 

Fascinatingly, the film is meant to be traditionally driven by the young teenage central character named Titta and honest and awkward dealings with his sexual awakenings. Cleverly, however, it seems like everyone else behaves like their peers. 

His parents fighting over dinner and threatening to kill themselves over fickle things. His father acting more like a school bully than a patriarchal figure. His uncle, a playboy still living at home, has a complete lack of ambition. These are only but a few examples of the type of characters that populate the action of this incredible carnivalesque depiction set in what was constantly portrayed in completely different ways, through neo-realism or melodrama. 

Despite aura of nostalgia, and the clever sense of humour, the satire is also quite powerful, and its more serious observations very thought provoking. The difference between AMARCORD and other politically aware films of the time is that it has a genuine human scent and is true to its etheral dimension as memories. Thus its sparse episodic nature is kept together by the compactness of the overall vision, which, along with another extraordinary original score by NINO ROTA, is enriched by GIUSEPPE ROTUNNO's fluid and meticulously choreographed cinematography, which is truly representative of the high quality production - no costs, it's fair to deduce, were spared for Italy's biggest director at the time."

Drama, Italy/France