Christ Stopped at Eboli, and other movies

So, I still like Christ Stopped at Eboli. Title is about Carlo Levi being exiled so far in the hinterlands that even Christ never got there.

The movie is photographically gorgeous, and remains interesting to me, but it is slow, for those raised on, say, video games, and fairly pondering, as opposed to ponderous, about matters regarding the alienation of the working people taxed through history beyond bearing in many ways. Runs two hours and twenty five minutes. Next time I'll try not to read the subtitles and listen only to the italian, the beautiful sounds.

Carlo Levi was a medical doctor, a poet, a painter, a writer, and more, from Turin. Movie set in 1935.

Amazon on the movie -
dvd
I give up. 4 tries now. Just look it up on a2k amazon (home page) or Netflix.


Amazon on the book (which I liked, still have)
The book, Christ Stopped in Eboli

More on the movie though I clicked it as about the director..
Francesco Rosi, who also did Three Brothers, another film I liked long ago.

OK, I got the disc for 'Malena' this afternoon.. looking forward to seeing it. Think Kicky liked it. Hmmmmmm. Anyway, I've not seen this one before.

Malena

Great essay on "Christ Stopped in Eboli" in that link to the film school site. One really has to be in "that mood" to watch such a profoundly sad film but it has its uplifiting moments. Haven't seen it for many years, so if I decide to re-NetFlix this summer (certainly nothing but re-runs on TV despite HBO announcing some new series which are always good), I've got a pretty substantial list of films to rent. One of my favorite Italian films is "The Gardens of the Finzi Continis," about the fate of the Italian Jews under Mussolini. The shots of the wealthy Jews inside the huge compound are striking and the love story is also profoundly sad.

"Christ Stopped in Eboli" I will definetely add to my new queue. Sure can't find it at my local DVD rental store!!!

"Gardens" and some other great titles in the Italian film history are in this essay in the Film Encyclopedia:

Italian Films, Visconti and others

I've seen Garden of the Finzi-Contini twice, but a long time ago.... I can still picture the tennis court..
Have seen Death in Venice twice, but it's been at least ten years...
Saw Rocco and his brothers, but don't remember it - mix it up in my mind with Three Brothers, by Francesco Rosi, I think.
I've read The Leopard (loved it) but not sure I've seen the movie. Might be remembering 1900, which I did see.

My other favorite Italian film is Antonioni's "L'Aventura" really about the fragile, jaded love amongst the rich. It created a sensation at Cannes, getting a reaction from the largely French audience as Ravel's "Bolero." It's a film of sparse dialogue and the impact comes from the imagery, utilizing the wide screen and black-and-white as an aesthetic onto itself. The image I remember most is the deserted looking town the couple finds themselves in when a lonely, bleak-looking train rolls through like some metaphysical and ominous entity which means them harm. The harm, of course, doesn't come from the symbolic metaphor but is inflicted by human weakness.

Of course, the scenes on the island when the woman disappears can leave one as empty as the characters who, under their blithe facades, are unapologetic hedonists.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053619/

OK, just finished watching Malena, schniff....

Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, the same fellow who did Cinema Paradiso.
I liked it, though it had some of the same sentimentality of the Cinema Paradiso.. Will watch it again before I send it back. A lot of it was filmed in Siracusa, a place I'd like to visit.

Saw "Malena" so long ago I have not much memory of it.

If you never seen Ingrid Bergman in her husband directed film "Stromboli," it now seems a pivotal film just as much in Hollywood history. Her acting can't be shorted but the storyline and dialogue leaves something to be desired. The final scenes on the volcano are certainly dramatic, just on the edge of the rest of the film of becoming melodramatic.

I haven't seen that. Reminds me to put Open City on my list as well. I've seen that twice, but, as usual, long ago.

bookmarking

So, hurry up, msolga, we're off on a certain tv series, after Diane sees Malena and I watch it #2 (but wait, I'll talk with you about any movie I've seen or hope to).

Malena suffers, re me, relative to the first two flics.
Certain slickness and sentimentality. What I thought about C. Paradiso.
Still, worth watching.

Hard to reread myself, as my take on Besieged was certainly under the wings of sentimental.

Ok, so I contradict myself.

Well, please do continue with your discussions of films from the series, osso. I'm interested, even if I haven't seen them (yet).

But later .... if you think it's a good idea, I'd love to rediscover some "oldie" Italian favourites which seem to have vanished into the sunset, sadly.

Like ... say, Juliet of the Spirits, some I never "got", all those Fellini films & heaps more I'm yet to discover. (Oh for a decent foreign film DVD lending library/store!)

MsOlga, I have at least forty favorite italian films and I've never seen Juliet of the Spirits, with no present plans, busy as I am recconoitering what I've already seen, listening to others, and moving on (presumably).

I trust that was about his wife.

Indeed it was about his wife, osso! And a very loving homage it was. (She was absolutely gorgeous in it!) But I have a confession to make here. In those dark, distant (so very distant!) days I was dragged along to these "foreign" films by my arty-farty boyfriend & I reckon I missed half (more!) of the meaning of them! Sub-titles & all that! But, of course, I was not going to let on! I'd love to see Juliet again now, to see what I make of it! And some other film (Red Desert?) Italian, I think. Something about ...?
But Bertollucci (I always spell his name wrong!) remains an enduring favourite of mine. With the added advantage of being a young adult when I saw them! To this day The Conformist remains my very favourite film, ever! And I've seen lots of films. It was perfect!

Well, Christ stopped at Eboli surely has vanished from any sunset, and too bad, slow film that it is.

Will try to give some kind of marker when I see classics in my own opinion, biased as they may be.


Others can give their own markers. Ah, a palio...

I'm not sure "Juliet of the Spirits" is worth a second viewing -- it really fractured my faith in Fellini when I originally saw it in a theater. I'm afraid of the "yawn" factor trying to trod through it again.

First I have to see Amarcord and Roma again...

Now there's an idea!
I loved Amarcord! And I think it just might be available on DVD. Another viewing would be good.
Roma I haven't seen, though.