If you ever want to know how to open a film, look to Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Opening with a stone statue of Jesus Christ being transported by a helicopter around Rome, this divine God-like image creates a swell of symbolism, imagery and creativity. One of the most controversial films of all time, La Dolce Vita was released in 1961 with immediate backlash. In Europe, in the 50's films were censored by Catholic priests before being show to the public. Yet La Dolce Vita, broke every single barrier that the church had ever censored, displaying orgies, adultery, murder, sex and sexuality. These themes are all displayed in the films most famous scene, when Anita Ekberg seductively dances in the Trevi Fountain. Fellini, who is my second favorite director of all time (right behind Martin Scorsese), wanted his audience to see an feel what they were always dreaming of and wanted in cinema. The film is about a tabloid playboy journalist Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) who tries entering the world of celebrity as one of them, yet always is alone with everybody. Marcello is a confused soul, looking for love, wealth and just something more out of life. It is hard for him to be accepted into the celebrity world, because in all fairness he is not a celebrity, just someone who is always around them. The admiration I have for La Dolce Vita, and all of Federico Fellini's work is that the films are so old, yet so modern. The themes and situations Marcello gets himself into are issues we still see and hear about all the time in the media. It is a film that displays our obsession with celebrity, people who are something more than what we are, God-like figures if you will, right here on Earth. Much like its opening, the film symbolizes our infatuation with those who we put on a pedestal.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Movie of the Month - La Dolce Vita
If you ever want to know how to open a film, look to Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Opening with a stone statue of Jesus Christ being transported by a helicopter around Rome, this divine God-like image creates a swell of symbolism, imagery and creativity. One of the most controversial films of all time, La Dolce Vita was released in 1961 with immediate backlash. In Europe, in the 50's films were censored by Catholic priests before being show to the public. Yet La Dolce Vita, broke every single barrier that the church had ever censored, displaying orgies, adultery, murder, sex and sexuality. These themes are all displayed in the films most famous scene, when Anita Ekberg seductively dances in the Trevi Fountain. Fellini, who is my second favorite director of all time (right behind Martin Scorsese), wanted his audience to see an feel what they were always dreaming of and wanted in cinema. The film is about a tabloid playboy journalist Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) who tries entering the world of celebrity as one of them, yet always is alone with everybody. Marcello is a confused soul, looking for love, wealth and just something more out of life. It is hard for him to be accepted into the celebrity world, because in all fairness he is not a celebrity, just someone who is always around them. The admiration I have for La Dolce Vita, and all of Federico Fellini's work is that the films are so old, yet so modern. The themes and situations Marcello gets himself into are issues we still see and hear about all the time in the media. It is a film that displays our obsession with celebrity, people who are something more than what we are, God-like figures if you will, right here on Earth. Much like its opening, the film symbolizes our infatuation with those who we put on a pedestal.