Video/DVD Review: Amarcord
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this movie is a surreal film where
adults often act like children and vice versa, so there are no
discernible characters to uphold regular roles of authority.
The only influence given respect is Mussolini's regime.
Gunshots, clownish street peddlers, prostitutes, and
dysfunctional families are the norm. A teacher smokes pot in
front of his students, kids smoke in the bathroom; patrons
drink cocktails at a soiree. Kids are given adult motives and
desires: a jealous toddler tries to get rid of his newborn
brother by dropping a rock onto him while he sleeps in his
crib; a pleasure-seeking woman bares her breasts to seduce an
ingénue, then promptly abandons him after the deed is
done; a young boy suffers the loss of his mother.
Families can talk about Italian history in the 1930s, the
definition of fascism, and the role of government in every day
life. How does Mussolini's fascist regime differ from a
democracy like that of the U.S.? Families may want to use this
opportunity to discuss how the film comments on adolescence and
the need for quality role models.
It's 1930's Fascist Italy, and life in the small town of Rimini has turned into a bona fide circus. Titta Biondi (Bruno Zanin), like most adolescents, wants to become a man -- to be respected, admired, and appreciated, to have the freedom to come and go as he pleases, and the charm to get the girl of his dreams. AMARCORD is the story of Titta's journey from prank-playing boyhood through wizened adolescence in this surreal take on coming-of age. Likely inspired by moments from Fellini's boyhood memoirs, the film is a series of unrelated vignettes, loosely connected by a rotating cast of characters.
Director/screenwriter Federico Fellini was always a master at the art of making caricatures out of people (he was a cartoonist in the early days). Here, he uses his standard cast of clowns, mimes, prostitutes, thugs, disillusioned professors and street peddlers to deliver monologues, diatribes, even newsreel quotes, throughout a fantastic, imaginary Italy. His characters, flickering like flames, pop up in the corner of the eye, and then disappear again within a blink. They address the audience directly, salivating, strutting like peacocks, commanding attention. There is a lot of visual hocus pocus, but what this circus needs is a stronger ringleader; it's the narrative equivalent of skipping back and forth between random entries from a diary: at times beautiful, but also potentially dull.
Kids will probably want to skip this one; clocking in at a turtle's pace of 127 minutes, most children will find the socio-political monologues, academic literary references, and disconnected narrative aimless and hard to sit through, if not completely tedious.
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