Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri – 1970)
Qualunque imposizione faccia su di noi, egli è servo della Legge e come tale sfugge al giudizio umano -Kafka
The Children Are Watching Us – I bambini ci guardano (Vittorio De Sica – 1944)
This cinematic masterpiece was filmed in Rome during the summer of 1942 before the Nazis arrival in October that started the occupation and devastation in the city. That's why Rome in this film looks very clean, normal and tranquil - the serenity before the war storms broke out. Stylistically, the film belongs to the Transitional genre in Italian cinema that occured before the Neorealism. It's considered a melodrama and to some extent a response to the sugar-coated Hollywoodian cinema of that period.
Riparo – Shelter Me (Marco S. Puccioni – 2007)
To me this film is a fine example of the power of good storytelling without the need for special effects and pyrotechnics in order to engage audiences. The premise is simple, a lesbian couple returns from a vacation in Tunis and to their great surprise discover a Moroccan guy hidden in their car, with a wish for a better life in Europe. Anna (Maria de Medeiros) the wealthy and more mature decides to help Anis (Mounir Ouadi) against the wish of her young and restless partner, Mara (Antonia Liskova).
The Desert of the Tartars – Il deserto dei Tartari (Valerio Zurlini – 1976)
Open wide spaces of panoramic desert views, soldiers perched high on their guard in an ancient, semi destructed fortress, waiting for an unseen enemy - the tartars - that for years and years never comes. Despite this inactivity, there is a total obedience to rules and regulations in the face of a non-existent enemy, which at times creates social frictions as one fellow soldier forgets the day's password and get shot by the sentry.
Sonetaula (Salvatore Mereu – 2008)
From Los Angeles Independent Festival in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles.
The Outcry – Il Grido (Michelangelo Antonioni – 1957)
Rejection, alienation, and total abandonment staged in a bleak winter in the Poe valley with constant use of gray landscapes, barren trees, foggish rain and lots of mud all the actors negotiate their way in - provide an apt juxtaposition between the emotional and the physical realities in this masterpiece by Antonioni.
Big Deal on Madonna Street – I Soliti Ignoti (Mario Monicelli – 1958)
On one hand you can look at this film and say it’s all about men camaraderie in effort to solve an economical problem, and indeed the relationships among the protagonists run the gamut from support, anger, humor, and compassion.
La destinazione – The Destination (Pietro Sanna – 2003)
Through the story of Emilio, a young carabiniere sent to a Sardinian village for its military training, the director Pietro Sanna gives us a picture of this culture that seems unchanged over the centuries.