"The Darned" Doesn't Go Far Enough

Film: The Damned
Format: DVD from NetFlix on rockin’ flatscreen.

I knew going into The Damned that I was going to be in for a rough ride. I’ve been spending too much time with short movies lately, though, and needed to get something with a little more heft crossed off. I’ve also been ignoring the 1960s of late, not for any reason other than I’ve just been watching from other decades instead. The Damned, which clocks in north of two-and-a-half hours and is from 1969, fit both criteria. That it’s also a singularly unpleasant film about pre-war Germany and the rise of the Nazis is another matter entirely.

So, this is very much a film with characters centered in Nazi ideology, but it’s absolutely not a war film. Instead, the focus is on a wealthy German family that runs a steel-making empire. The family has weathered the defeat of Germany in the Great War and the massive economic depression that followed. Now, with the rise of National Socialism, the family deals with its evolving opinion of the new chancellor. Sounds like fun, right?

All is Fair in Love and War

Film: Senso (The Wanton Countess)
Format: Streaming video from Hulu+ on various players.

There is evidently something of the romantic sadist in me; I tend to like romances far more when they end in terrible tragedy. At the very least, I appreciate them a lot more when the lovers do more than have silly quarrels or face trials at are easily overcome. The whole grandeur of a great romance is made that much grander by those trials faced by the star-crossed lovers. It’s one of the reasons a lot of rom-coms don’t work for me. There’s just not enough pain to suit me. In the case of Senso (The Wanton Countess), there’s more than enough misery and terrible decision making to go around.

Like many a romance of the tragic variety, Senso takes place in a time of political and military upheaval. It’s the mid-19th century, and the southern part of Europe is torn by war as Austria and Italy fight over territory. In Venice, the people are decidedly bent on Italian rule, which doesn’t bode well for the Austrian military in the area. At an opera performance, the Venetians stage an allegedly impromptu but actually planned demonstration of fealty to Italy. This protest has been staged by Roberto Ussoni (Massimo Girotti). Ussoni is the cousin of the Countess Livia Serpieri (Alida Valli), who is trapped in a bland and pathetic marriage with a bland and pathetic count (the awesomely named Heinz Moog).

Family Matters

Film: Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers)
Format: Internet video on laptop.

I took a long look at the films still remaining for me today. There are (with today’s film out of the way) 306 films left, and a hefty chunk of those are films that are difficult to find. So after a bit of searching around, I decided it was time to concentrate a little more on these more difficult films, knowing there’s all the time in the world for those films that are easily located. Since I’m also being conscious of film length, I opted for the longest remaining film that was otherwise difficult to locate, and thus I spent close to three hours watching Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers), a film straight from the heart of Italian neo-realism.

The Parondi family moves from a little down in the south of Italy to Milan in the hope of making a better life for themselves. The family matriarch, Rosaria (Katina Paxinou) comes with four of her sons: Simone (Renato Salvatori), the eponymous Rocco (Alain Delon), Ciro (Max Cartier), and the young Luca (Rocco Vidolazzi). Her fifth son, Vincenzo (Spiros Focas) is already in Milan, which is why they came there. Vincenzo is currently engaged to Ginetta (Claudia Cardinale), but things immediately go awry at the arrival of his family.

The End of an Era

Film: Il Gattopardo (The Leopard)
Format: DVD from Rockford Public Library on big ol’ television.

Evidently, I’m on something of a Visconti kick at the moment, having watched two of his films in less than a week. Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) is one that I’ve put off for a while; finding it in a local library this time marks the second or third time I’ve had the film in my possession. I determined to watch it this time, and did. It’s longer than other Visconti films I’ve seen, but doesn’t specifically feel longer. It’s a good 40 minutes longer than Ossessione but feels about the same length. This is probably more because I knew where Ossessione was going from the start, and had no such prior knowledge of Il Gattopardo.

It feels very different from other Visconti films. For one thing, it’s in luxurious color instead of the stark black-and-white I’m used to from him. Second, and more significantly, we are no longer enmeshed in the plots and desires of the common people. It’s almost as if Visconti decided to walk away from neo-realism not at a saunter but at a full gallop, running so far away from the common man that he ended up mired in the Italian aristocracy of 100 years previous. There are no sparse meals or hungry children here; instead, it’s all sumptuous banquets, balls, and a heaping dose of war and political intrigue.

That Postman Keeps on Ringing

Film: Ossessione
Format: DVD from NetFlix on kick-ass portable DVD player.

It’s strange how we remember films. I know intellectually that Luchino Visconti’s Ossessione came a couple of years before The Postman Always Rings Twice, but it doesn’t change the fact that I saw the latter first. There’s a real sense going through this film that I’d already seen it. It’s not shot-for-shot the same, but the two films are similar enough (and are based on the same book) that this film filled me with a definite sense of déjà vu.

If you’ve seen The Postman Always Rings Twice, you’ve seen this film, and vice versa. There are some significant differences, but the basic idea is identical with only the names different. A drifter named Gino (Massimo Girotti) floats into town and winds up and a sort of gas station/restaurant/general store run by a man named Bragana (Juan de Landa). Bragana is a middle-aged man and decidedly fat, so it comes as a surprise when we encounter his young and attractive wife, Giovanna (Clara Calamai). There’s an immediate attraction between Gino and Giovanna.