NJCU Italian Film: Spring 2023

 Written by: Lesly Almonte Norman The Golden Door Emanuele Crialese’s film, The Golden Door (2006) orbits around a Sicilian’s family departure from Italy to the United States with the mentality that they are heading into a land where the vegetables are massive, the rivers are filled with milk, and money rains from the skies. This film visually portrays the claims of “The American Dream” which I found incredibly interesting and quite comical especially since my parents are immigrants themselves. The father telling his two sons, “We have to arrive in America looking like princes” stood out to me because Dominicans have this same mentality when they’re going back to the Dominican Republic to visit because they have to make people believe they are doing well in the United States. This just furthers that belief that the United States is this land in which you are walking down the street and pulling money off of trees—it is a fantasy that people in other countries have conjured in their...

Life is Beautiful is one of those films that will make you laugh and make you sad at the same time. It is a good and a sad way to approach the topic of the Holocaust and what made it such a classic masterpiece in film is in the first half, a sweet-filled romance story filled with laughs and warmth about an Italian-Jewish waiter who eventually wins the girl of his dreams. But it takes a turn in the second half, a heartfelt story about a father protecting his son's innocence in spite of everything horrible going on within the setting of a concentration camp.  The Golden Door is another beautiful film to watch and while it was slow-moving, it was ultimately rewarding of a drama with scenes of fantastical realism, lively humor and stunning images. One of the characters that are remarkable is the muted younger son. The contrast here with his first role is complete. Then, he plays a supercharged kid that was as relentless as anything around him. Just his eyes tell the whole story with s...

  The Conformist Marcello Clerici’s secret trauma is that he murdered his chauffeur, Lino. The trauma made him a person who wants to be “normal” because he’s wanted to find an escape from reality ever since the murder. When Marcello goes to Paris, we learn that his original thesis was supposed to be on the story of Plato’s cavern. But the professor uses it against Marcello by correlating it with how Italy is run as a fascist nation. At the end of the movie, Marcello finds out that Lino is alive and angrily, in front of a crowded square, says that Lino is a fascist, a gay, and the one who murdered the professor and his wife. Marcello also claims that his blind friend is gay and a fascist. Marcello probably doesn’t want to accept that the professor has some truth when he used Marcello’s knowledge against him. This means that his desire of being “normal” can’t be possible Death in Venice In Death In Venice, the city of Venice is so important in telling this story about repressed sexua...

Rome:Open City Response by Giana Orlando Some aspects of Rome:Open City I found interesting was how the film dealt with the theme of truth. First when watching the film, I had to realize that this was the perspective of some Italians during WWII. They saw themselves as victims, which is strongly portrayed in the film; however the Itlains were not entirely innocent in reality, as most were not part of the rebel groups. Another example of truth I found interesting was the consistent references of Christianity, especially with the Priest. The Priest in the film is supposed to be following the teachings of God; however, there were moments in the film where the Priest’s actions were questionable in terms of following the rules of Christianity.  In Christianity, God tells his followers not to sin or deceit others at all, as it is wrong. The Priest lied to the Germans about helping an old man to stop a little boy from setting off a bomb. In that scene the Priest falsely uses one of the ...

       During the film Umberto D , we are shown a special relationship between a man and his dog. There is a reason why the saying goes “a dog is a man’s best friend”. Flike is Umberto’s prized possession and he takes care of him better than himself. He feeds him more than himself. Eventually Umberto and Flike lose each other, but always find their way back. Flike is the most loyal and consistent thing Umberto has. When Umberto is officially homeless, Flike sticks by his side no matter what and walks with him while Umberto holds his suitcase.       This was one of the many beautiful films that we were shown in class. This film stuck out to me during the semester because of the undying loyalty portrayed between the two main characters (Umberto and Flike).

      Life is Beautiful felt like a movie with two parts. The first part introduced our characters and showed us their love story. The second half of the movie showed us their family had grown, but was taken away by the Germans. Guido tried to keep the truth from Joshua, to keep his innocence and youth alive. I believe it was a nicer way to approach the topic of the Holocaust. We got the gist of what the Jewish people were treated like at the camps, but weren’t shown the worst of it. We saw no matter what families could be torn apart, and that everyone was terrified to do something wrong. For example, the scene where Guido tells Joshua to not speak when the children were eating because he’d get caught, and Joshua accidentally speaks, Guido had to think quickly to save the situation.      This film was my favorite from this semester, and I would definitely recommend to others!