Amarcord (I Remember)

Director: Federico Fellini
Release date: 19 September 1974
Genre: Comedy / Drama



The fantastic world of Fellini, that basically explains the whole movie.
It is like a collection of random memories of a small town called Rimini (Italy). Federico Fellini grew up here.

The openning act is the entrance of Spring: blue sky,
grass is green, wind blows warmly, everyone seems excited to start their activities.

The main story is about a teenage boy named Titta Biondi (Bruno Zanin) who lives in a big-and-disfunctional family: A bad-tempered dad, an exhausted mother, and obdurate little brothers. Just like Spring, Titta and his friends bloom, finding passion in romance and sex is their mission in life. Those boys would spend most of their time wandering around the city, mocking old people, talking about girls, watching movies in Cinema, and flirting with the sophisticated older woman named Gradisca (Magali Noel). Gradisca is dealing with love issue, you'll see her life as an adult woman who's struggling to find passion, love, and commitment.

Facism spreads very effectively in Italy, the school was strict, students were handled like troopers, and the church was fully controlling the society's moral. It was a sensitive era for the community in Italy. In fact, Titta's dad was assumed as a turncoat by the police just because he talks about the government.

Fellini simply wanted to show things that he likes from what he remembers. You'll find red passion, politic, society, and all the casual little things that you're dealling with in your own life. It's all wrapped up in random memories of people in a little town named Rimini. In the beginning, I find it a bit hard to catch the message, since the stories are very jumpy and random. Though I guess that's the art of memories: random and somehow touchy. At the end of the movie I find myself melancholically related to the bittersweet reality:
time flies by,
people die,
people get married,
people grow up,
people move on.

Amarcord is a special collection for me, it's touching, historically-educating, realistic, and raw.

Amarcord