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Reviews
El Alamein (1957)
Almost unknown war movie
At summer, some not so known movies are appearing on television:this is one of them. Actors were not so well-known either, with 3 or 4 exceptions. This movie is about a decisive battle in the northern Africa campaign during World War II.
A group of Italians, from all walks of life and from different parts of Italy, are dispatched to Africa to fight against the British army. They are not well equipped and many of them would prefer to be elsewhere all the time. Conditions on the battlefield are awful, but none the less they keep on fighting, until the overwhelming British forces invite them to surrender. But they had been ordered to resist and, willingly or unwillingly, less than 50 soldiers defend their stronghold, until no one of them can fight any longer; from the very beginning they knew they had very few chances of surviving the attack, but they complied with the orders given to them. Their bravery gained to themselves the respect of the enemy not only because of their military valor, but also because of their human attitude towards a bunch of British prisoners. One of the few survivors, now a wounded POW, is the soldier whose fiancée was an English singer. It is true that this love story sounds a bit awkward in this movie, but it is possible that the authors had a message to convey about war and love.
Prova d'orchestra (1978)
A 'documentary'?
It is rather neglected a movie by Fellini, but I agree with those who see it as a 'metaphor' of the Italian society; not of the Italian society in general, but of the Italian society at the end of the '70s. After 1968, there was turmoil in the country and the artist's message is quite clear, apparently: prolonged social strife can lead to dictatorial outcomes. The message is not so clear at the beginning of the film and it might be seen as a sort of a 'documentary', but when that huge stone 'ball' starts pounding on the building where the 'orchestra' are rehearsing and a faraway voice starts becoming more and more clear and strong, Fellini's message becomes obvious.
The Wedding Dress (2001)
Unheard of - Very nice
I was watching TV, when my zapping took me to this movie.The pivot of the story is a wedding dress, that could not be worn, because the bridegroom died right before the wedding day. The dress was forgotten of, only to 'reappear' many years later, when many stories start rotating around its reappearance. Narration is simple, but smooth and delightful. Acting is pleasant and casting well chosen. I saw only a bit of it at the beginning, then I moved to another channel. I turned to it again later before switching my TV off. Now I regret not having seen it thoroughly. No comments and no date were written in my TV magazine, therefore it was hard for me to make up my mind; furthermore actors are not well-known outside the USA; I am asking myself why the movie was so underestimated. No trash, no vulgar dialogs, no gruesome passages: without these ingredients a movie is not a movie?
L'oro di Napoli (1954)
Not outdated
I am Italian and I saw this movie on TV a few days ago. I had not seen it in the past. Totò is absolutely fantastic in his role. But the most astonishing episode is that of the 'funeralino', the funeral of a child: that is very 'neapolitan' to me. Sorrow and attention to manners are co-existent and you never know whether it is true sorrow or pure acting. Paolo Stoppa is also excellent in his role as a new widower. Of course, the movie is quoted because of Sofia Loren, who was helping her husband in his job of making pizzas. This is the movie where her nickname 'la pizzaiola' came from. While watching it, I did not realize that it had been made so many years ago. It well deserves to be seen.
Ba wang bie ji (1993)
Complex story- Great rendering
I first saw the movie right after it being awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes Festival 1993 along with 'The Piano', the co-winner. I have seen it again and again more than ten times, at least, despite its length, amounting to nearly 3 hours of footage. One of the reasons why I saw it so many times is that I translated its dialogs from Chinese into Italian for its dubbing. Nearly all movies are dubbed in Italy. The language spoken by the old people was quite formal, while children were more colloquial and, sometimes, vulgar. There also were passages reminiscent of historical events and literary quotations.
What impressed me from the very beginning was the fast rhythm of the whole movie, quite different from that of nearly all the Chinese movies I saw in the past. 'Red Lanterns', the great movie by by Zhang Yimou, is entirely different, just to quote one.
The sung parts were clearly performed by non professional Peking Opera actors, but they were essential to the narration itself and not many people may have realized it.
Actors and the actress, Gong Li, are excellent.
The movie is a remarkable portrait of the Chinese society during a few crucial decades: a masterpiece!
Roma città aperta (1945)
Still a masterpiece
I am Italian and I did not see 'Roma città aperta' until about 12-15 years ago. For a movie made right at the end of the war some biased attitudes might have been expected. To my surprise, the narration was just flowing as a documentary movie; true and great actors, such as Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi, were mingled with non professional ones: the result was entirely 'natural' and unbiased. No characters, including the German soldiers, were unnatural. Everything is so forceful that this movie well deserves to be considered as one of the greatest movies ever made.
Note: The given title 'Roma città aperta' is the original Italian title, with an accent on the last vowel of 'città'.