Classic Italian Film

*New Course*

The Italian films we’ll view and discuss may be films you’ve never seen or perhaps even heard of. Ready for adventure? Nevertheless, they are among the most powerful and influential films ever made. They cover a revolutionary period of “neo-realism” from the late 40s through the late 60s, beginning with documentary-like revelations of lower class struggles (De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves) which present lives determined and undermined by harsh economic conditions, to films which move to highly imaginative explorations of subjective interiors (Fellini’s 8 1/2) and cultural and psychological terrain inaccessible to strictly realist techniques.

Typically, talk and writing about film tends to proceed as if film and literary narratives are indistinguishable. Plot, story, character, and dialogue are the subjects of such so-called film commentary without reference to the fact that its unique, non-literary medium is what makes film what it is. Film, to put it bluntly, is not literary fiction. Consequently, in this course we will focus on how the actual visual image is crafted to shape and reveal the film-maker’s intention to tell stories that cannot be told by strictly literary means.  The film-makers we’ll study:  DeSica, Fellini, Antonioni, Visconti, Germi.

Several short essays required, along with faithful attendance.