Federico Fellini- Director Essay

Loralei Hurlock

10.13.10

Lit & Media

Fellini Essay

Federico Fellini was a well reputable Italian film director born on January 20^th 1920 and died on October 31^st 1993. Although, he has passed away he is still and will be considered one of the most influential directors of the 20^th century. He has a certain style, although his movies vary from comedy to tragedy, they are very baroque styled and very fantasy/dream filled. The three movies of Fellini's I chose to watch were La Strada (1954), Roma (1972), and Amarcord (1975). After watching all three, I have been able to discern similarities between them, but they also each had many differences that made that movie unique and memorable.

First, I watched Roma, which is very fast paced. I'd like to start by saying he definitely is fully involved with his films, wether he is directing it, or acting as well. He's very autobiographical, which I noticed a lot with Roma. It's a film about his youth in Rimini, Rome and is a collective of a series of random episodes of his life. There were two stories going on throughout the movie, which made it a bit confusing for me. One is him as a young man in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The second one is of the director of a film crew creating a film about Rome. Another Fellini technique I observed was that he switches a lot between reality and things that have already happened, or between two narratives like this one. It makes it very interesting, but it was hard to keep up sometimes.

Secondly, I watched La Strada, which is strange to compare to Roma, but I enjoyed both. La Strada is a film about Gelsomina, played by Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina, who was sold to a gypsy Zampano by her mother for 10 000 lire, in order to take place of her dead sister, Rosa. She's entirely adorable and just wants to be an artist and appreciated. Zampano and Gelsomina travel as a circus type act to different towns for some cash. Throughout the entire movie she was faithful to him and would do anything for him, but he increasingly depreciates her and resorts to cruelty to maintain his dominance. It's a rather sad story, even though still comical, it was quite a change from his other movies I watched. He got the idea from a man he remembers frim his childhood of the character Zampano, once again drawing from his own experiences, specifically childhood memories. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, it was easier to follow, because it was a lot more slow paced then his other films. He is more linear with his shots, compared to Roma or Amarcord, which he used a lot of panning.

Last, but not least, I watched Amarcord, which was very, very random at times. It's a comical drama film with some references of his youth and coming of age story. This movie, like Roma, was quite fast paced. I feel like it was more confusing, only in regards to how random things were and as to why certain things were happening.

Overall, I really enjoyed his films and would like to watch more and broaden my experiences with older films. Fellini is a very egotistical person, not necessarily in a bad way, but it shows in his movies. The films seems to generally include memories, dreams, fantasies and desire, which makes it easy for everyone to relate to, as well.