Category:Cinema--Italian

The category: Cinema--Italian includes movies, videos and TV programs in Italian language, as well as a directory of Italian Film Directors, Actors, and Film composers.

Overview

The first Italian "biblical" film by Vittorio Calcina was not an original production but the Italian edition of La vie et la passion de Christ (The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ / 1898 Hatot), short film.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Italian cinema was at the forefront in the production of the most spectacular "biblical" films. Films like "Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei" (1913), "Quo Vadis?" (1913), and "Christus" (1916) were international sensations.

In the 1920s Italian cinema struggled to maintain its reputation. Financial crisis and the failure of some major projects, like Gabriellino D'Annunzio's Quo Vadis (1925), led the Unione Cinematografica Italiana to bankruptcy. The Fascist regime had other priorities and no major "biblical" movie was produced in the 1930s.

After WW2, Italian cinema was ready to regain its leading position in the field.

On one hand, the influence of "neo-realismo" led to a revisitation of some traditional subjects from a more political and realistic perspective, like in L'ebreo errante (1948) and Il miracolo (1948). Along the same trajectory are also the TV production of Gian Carlo Menotti"s Amahl e i visitatori notturni" (1955) and Il figlio dell'uomo (1955) di Virgilio Sabel, in which the Gospel stories were located in a poor peasant setting.

On the other hand, Italian cinema revived its tradition of lavish productions of historical movies, dealing in particular with the life of early Christians in the Roman Empire, in which the classical "DeMille" combination of sex-violence-religion could be reproduced.

In the 1960s the duality of approach of Italian cinema became even more apparent with the almost contemporaneous production of two among the greatest and most celebrated "biblical" movies of all times, the colorful and spectacular Barabbas (1961) with Anthony Quinn, and Il vangelo secondo Matteo (1964) by Pierpaolo Pasolini a B&W film with a cast of non-professional actors.

Gradually, television replaced the movie theater as the most suitable setting for "biblical" movies. The Atti of Apostoli (1969) by Roberto Rossellini was the first successful "biblical" mini-series on Italian television, to which the filmmaker made follow his own interpretation of the figure of Jesus in Il messia (1976). In 1977 Franco Zeffirelli directed "Gesu dI Nazareth", an ambitious and highly praised international co-production.

In recent decades, Italy has continued to be a leading country in the production of "biblical" films (mostly for television), even though none of them has distinguished itself at the international level as some of the earliest productions.

@2017 Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

The protagonists

Italian Film Directors

The genre of "biblical" movies is traditionally one of the strength of Italian cinema. Some of the best-known Italian film directors have been involved in the genre, starting with [[]], Roberto Rossellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Franco Zeffirelli. Some Italian film director have specialized in the genre, especially for television.

Italian cinema "created" the genre of epic-historical movies, especially in the field of Christian Origins with some of the first versions of The Last Days of Pompeii and Quo Vadis?.

In spite of his ties with the Catholic Church, the Fascist regime was not interested in "biblical" movies, a genre that would be revived only after the second world war. The new school of "neorealismo" produced two interesting movies in 1948, in which the traditional narratives of the Wandering Jew and the Nativity fo Jesus were both given a non-conformist, contemporary twist by filmmakers Goffredo Alessandrini and Roberto Rosellini, starring Vittorio Gassman, Anna Magnani and Federico Fellini.

By the 1950s Italian cinema was back to a more familiar ground--lavish productions of "historical" movies with "foreign" stars as protagonists and Italian actors in the supporting roles. The climax was the production of Barabbas (1961 Fleischer), feature film, starring Anthony Quinn, Athur Kenney, Silvana Mangano, Ernest Borgnine, and Vittorio Gassman.

The lesson of "neorelismo" however was not lost. Italian film directors like Virgilio Sabel, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini pursued the ideal of an anticlimactic approach to biblical narratives, which were closer to the popular "peasant" tradition in which these narratives originated. In the attempt to recreate not the "original" historical setting but the original spirit of the narratives, they picked up non-professional actors, and searched for "realistic" locations (preferably in Southern Italy), not-yet contaminated by modern civilization. The results were astonishing--the Gospel according to Matthew by Pier Paolo Pasolini was immediately recognized by critics as a masterpiece and one of the best "biblical" movie ever produced.

The development of critical scholarship and the new climate of ecumenical relations among Christians and between Christians and Jews influenced the production of "biblical" movies. In 1977 Franco Zeffirelli gathered a very diverse team of consultants in a highly successful TV miniseries on Jesus of Nazareth, coproduced by Italy and the United States.

In Italy, the movies of the 1980s and 1990s, still influenced by neorealismo, search for the human side of the narratives, focusing on the perspective of minor characters, like Pilate, the Magi or the Good Thief.

In the 2000s Italy also follows the international trend of revival of religious movies, especially for television audiences.

@2018 Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

Italian Actors

At the beginnings of the Italian silent cinema some Italian actors distinguished themselves in "biblical" roles, notably, Amleto Novelli (as Judas Maccabeus), Mario Voller-Buzzi (as Jesus of Nazareth), Vittoria Lepanto (as Salome). By the 1920s, however, the long for exoticism led to the hiring of "foreign" actors and actresses as protagonists of stories related to the ancient Middle East. Italian actors were left the supporting roles.

To see another group of Italian actors taking leading roles in "biblical" movies, we have to wait until the end of the second world war, with Anna Magnani, Federico Fellini and Vittorio Gassman.

By the 1950s however Italian professional actors were once again relegated to supporting roles. International productions had international stars as protagonists, while for the most interesting Italian production film directors preferred to use non-professional actors.

Only starting from the 1980s, some interesting leading roles were offered to Italian actors--Nino Manfredi (as Pontius Pilate), Enrico Montesano (as the Good Thief), Maria Grazia Cucinotta (as Mary Magdalene), and others.

In comparison to their adult colleagues, Italian child actors have always had many more opportunities, from Renato Visca (1916) to Paola Tedesco (1964), Lorenzo Monet (1977), Matteo Bellina (1987), Gianmarco Giovi (2000), Jurji Gentilini (2000), and Brando Pacitto (2006).