Rome wasn’t built in a day and wasn’t seen in one either but I had a good four hours in the city today so here’s a postcard style collage in lieu of a blog post:
Tag Archive: Rome
L’ECLISSE directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (Italy, 1962)
Mostly, we watch movies as a means of seeking relief from the worries and tedium of everyday life but, with deliberate perversity, Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (Eclipse) makes no attempt to cater to this desire for contrived entertainment or escapism.
It’s a movie about nothing and everything with a plot so paper-thin it would fit on a post-it note. My summary would be : A young woman leaves her older husband – she meets a younger man – she doesn’t love either – she doesn’t know what she really wants.
The setting is Rome, but apart from the frenetic activity of the city’s stock exchange it looks like a ghost city. Many shots would not be out-of-place in the Sci-Fi classic, The Day The Earth Stood Still. When we do see the inhabitants, most of them look haunted, bored and ill at ease.
The narrative is linear yet the story feels as mysterious and enigmatic as one of David Lynch’s waking dream sequences. Continue reading
Una Giornata Particolare (A Special Day ) directed by Ettore Scola (1977).
This beautiful film is set in Rome on May 8, 1939, the day Mussolini first met Hitler.
It opens with extended documentary footage of this infamous occasion. The adoring crowds waving swastika flags is a sobering reminder of the mass support these despicable leaders commanded.
Sophia Loren plays Antonietta who is left alone in her tenement flat when her fascist husband and tribe of six children leave to attend the celebratory rally.
While cleaning, the family’s pet minor bird escapes through the window and lands on the stairwell near the window of the flat directly opposite. This is next to the home of Gabriele (Marcello Mastroianni). In retrieving the bird the two strike up a friendship through a mutual attraction and recognition of their lonely lives.
The symbolism of the bird briefly escaping its cage soon becomes apparent. Continue reading
A four day Science conference is to be held in Rome at the end of this month to discuss the end of the world (“La fine del mondo. Istruzioni per l’uso” – The end of the world – user instructions).
Thankfully, the boffins seem to give us ordinary mortals more time than that fixed by the Mayan Calendar.
The Mayan prophecies speak to us of major changes on December 21, 2012. Thereafter only the privileged few can look forward to the dawn of a fifth sun (fifth Ajaw) to realise their spiritual destiny and enjoy a new harmony between male and female energies.
Carlos Barrios, from the Eagle Clan of the Mam Maya of Guatemala says: “The world will not end. It will be transformed… Continue reading
An English friend and his wife told me that on a recent holiday in Italy, they were sitting on the Spanish Steps in Rome where they were approached by a couple of Japanese girls who sought their assistance as they were being harassed by a pair of young Polish men. A global potpourri if ever there was one!
These days national divisions are becoming increasingly blurred and while Poles pestering Japs may represent a non harmonious aspect of this phenomenon, there are other more positive possibilities.
Take for example the case of The Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio who I saw on Saturday night at the ornate and slightly snooty Teatro Bonci in Cesena. Continue reading
