I’ve reviewed just about every Italian movie from the last dozen or so years that you can rent or buy in the US, but since I watch the really good ones over and over, I’ll take the chance to remind everybody they’re out there.
Tonight I made my husband, Brian, take a break from watching one episode after another of “The Wire” (he’s on season 4 – how many more are there of those things?) and we watched Marco Bellocchio’s triumph, Vincere.
It’s not that he dislikes foreign movies – he just isn’t a big fan of subtitles and keeping him awake while watching a DVD on the couch is a challenge. My argument for dubbing is strengthened every time we watch an Italian film together, because I know for certain that he’d watch more of them if not for the subtitles.
The true story of Benito Mussolini and his secret wife, Ida Dasler, Vincere is gorgeous, with vivid and starting imagery. In my favorite, Ida is in the asylum, climbing the bars and tossing letters into the falling snow. Filippo Timi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno are spectacular, and Marco Bellocchio’s direction a work of art. I know that Brian was impressed.
Stay tuned: Brian has promised me a review, and tomorrow you can read about it from another point of view – the male, not-quite-so-crazy-about-Italian-movie point of view.
Remember, you can rent the DVD or stream Vincere instantly from Netflix, or buy it from Amazon.
I Love Italian Everything 