Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Console best movie i've ever seen.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Joan Garvan I saw this movie in the 1980s but it remains an all time favourite. It is a terrific story with a range of characters who demonstrate extremes of character. The women are sexy and smart and they are critical to the story. The music by Nino Rota is wonderful and delicately placed within the story. There are many memorable scenes. The stars Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, and Lina Polito are perfect for their roles and there are many other notables including Eros Pagni who is the brute given charge of the black shirts. I've watched this film at least a dozen times and I plan to watch it many more before I return to the earth. I commend Love and Anarchy to you.

fred-houpt It's such a shame that Wertmuller no longer commands the interest of producers. She gave us such powerful films, and at her peak, she and Giannini could do no wrong. European directors have given us films that excoriate Fascists. There is Bertoluci's "1900" and "The Conformist"; Costa Gravas's "Missing", there is "Schindler's List","The Pianist", "Two Women" are just a few of a long list. What does Wertmuller show us? Simple people get caught up in every single war, WW 2 was no exception. There were probably all kinds of attempts to kill Mussolini before he was finally caught and hung up like a piece of meat. This movie takes place early in the rise of El Duce. To openly show displeasure with his black shirted thugs would guarantee a short and brutal outcome. The same held true for those brave and furious souls in Spain and Germany who tried (in vain) to stand up against Fascism. The main story in this drama is the almost mad plans of a simple country bumpkin who seeks to avenge the murder of an "anarchist" who planned to kill Mussolini but got carried away and told everyone in the town of his plans. Next thing we see is him murdered. Giannini's character shows up in Rome and seeks refuge in a brothel (all pre-arranged), after having gone to France for training in shooting a gun. Much has been made of the mayhem inside the brothel but to me this is color adding to the texture, it is subtext. The main body of this drama evolves with Tunin and his trembling approach to the plot. That he becomes embroiled in an unexpected love for a prostitute is but one twist in the plot. There are several wonderful scenes where he has ample opportunity to kill a vile fascist thug who is a regular at the brothel but he refuses to get sidetracked. Even after having fallen in love he still refuses to divert from his presumed destiny. He fully expects to either fail or even if successful to get caught and killed for his efforts. "Tunin" tries to make sense of his confused feelings and at the end has to abandon clarity for duty. He is confused, frightened and compelled to honor his fallen comrade. The surprise twist (I won't spoil it) at the end of the film pushes him over the edge into an irrational, spontaneous and self destructive spree. His fate once met is anti=climactic, he having already intuited the end. The film is funny, tense and upsetting. I simply cannot believe how fast Mariangela Melato speaks, she sounds like the fast rattle of a machine gun. The cast is totally wonderful, the direction tight, with evocative single frame shots of Tunin in a pose, creating a "snapshot" feel, supporting his introspection as he plans. (An aside: what is up with Giannini's face? He looks like his face was covered in splotches ...like freckles; he looked sickly and scary and did not look like this in "Swept Away") Anyway, a really powerful drama, the likes of which we just don't see today.

aimless-46 Rather than contend for film with the longest title, "Film of Love and Anarchy (or At Ten o'clock This Morning in Via dei Fiori in the Infamous House of Prostitution)" is better known by the more manageable "Love and Anarchy". This 1973 Lina Wertmüller thriller is a hard first watch because there is no suspense to grab the viewer and hook them into the story. I was only able to handle about 30 minutes at a time, not because it was unpleasant but because I was too uninvolved in the story to ignore distractions and interruptions. But while it withholds most of its appeal from the initial viewing, it yields something new each time it is viewed."Love and Anarchy" is more an expressionistic opera than a realistic thriller. Imagine "Cabaret" starring Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp" and you will have a good idea of its style. It's main theme sneaks up and surprises you. U.S. viewers, dimly aware of the great depression and World War Two, suffer a complete cultural disconnect regarding the continuing legacy of fascism in Italy and Germany. Meaning that anti-fascist political messages are embedded in almost all post-war Italian cinema. But Wertmüller's "Love and Anarchy" has the broader theme of anti-extremism, taking shots at those who make major sacrifices out of perverted idealism and a lack historical perspective. The film begins with its main character Tonino (Giancarlo Giannini) at a turning point in his life, the execution of an older relative for political subversion. After viewing the body on display in what would otherwise by an idyllic rural setting, Torino is inspired to take over what he perceives as his relative's mission, the assassination of Benito Mussolini. Tonino goes to Rome and links up with his anarchist contact, a highly sought after call girl named Salomè (another Wertmuller regular Mariangela Melato), her brothel is popular with the Fascists and Mussolini's head of security, an arrogant blow-hard named Spatoletti (Eros Pagni), is especially fond of Salomè. Tonino and young call girl Tripolina (Lina Polito) soon fall in love which serves to greatly complicate his mission.I watched the widescreen version of the film on the Fox Lorber DVD, and contrary to several other comments I found no problems with the film transfer. My guess is that these refer to the variation in color tone as the film cuts between characters, but this is a deliberate effect by Wertmüller's. She lights each face differently to convey the character's motivation. The uncomplicated Torino is given natural lighting, the political Salomè is tinted red, and the disillusioned Tripolina is in shadow. These combine with bold colors, a surreal score, and acute camera angles that exaggerate elements and play with scale in many of the frames. The everyday scenes in the brothel are especially good, combining the audacious with the darkly comic. The best is a carnival-like montage to music showcasing the start of a busy day of business for the prostitutes and their eager customers. In almost any other film Pagni would steal the whole thing with his overplayed performance but Melato matches him line for line. This contrasts nicely with the more subtle and nuanced performances of Giannini and Polito. Polito is very effective when Wertmüller makes use of her eyes in several close-ups.There is much overwrought melodrama as Wertmüller uses a farcical tone to illustrate that the Fascists and their opposition are linked by a common hypocrisy and a shared perversion of idealism. Ironically the film is at its best during its quiet scenes such as Tornio and Tripolina's stroll through the plazas of the city. This is an important film with an original message, fine performances from the entire ensemble, and really slick film-making techniques.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

ch_otchy Directed by Lina Wertmüller in 1973, "Love & Anarchy" is an indisputable classic. Universally identifiable and immediately entertaining, Wertmüller carries her audience into the mind and times of Turin, a peasant in 1930s Italy. When one of his close friends and idols is killed by fascists, Turin becomes obsessed with anarchist ideals he hardly understands, and sets off to exact an awful vendetta--the assassination of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The plan gets off-track when Turin falls in love with Tripolina, a prostitute in the bordello where he lives in the days leading up to the assassination attempt. We soon learn that Tripolina returns his love, and the tragic stage is set. Knowing full well that the assassination attempt, successful or not, will surely mean his death, Turin is suddenly gripped by fear. When all he had at stake was a quiet life on the farm, he was glad to give it up for a chance at changing the quality of life for his peasant countrymen. But now, having tasted the happiness love can afford, can Turin really carry through with this suicidal act? Can he truly give up his life for a belief he once thought was worth dying?"Love & Anarchy" is a brilliant study of turmoil and human testing in the face of insurmountable odds. It begs the question--is it better to bow and live, or stand up and die? How much can a people be crushed before someone makes a sacrifice for the betterment of society? Whose responsibility is it? And on a grander scale, is it better to live happily, contented by love or family, and leave the world untouched, or to attempt real change by sacrificing everything in exchange for it? "Love & Anarchy" poses all these questions, but it offers no easy answers.Wertmüller's favorite actor, Giancarlo Giannini, plays the peasant boy, Turin, with beautiful humility. He wordlessly portrays infinite subtleties of emotion with body language and facial expression alone. Giannini has the face of a silent movie actor, and in fact was touted as a new Chaplin in the 1970s. Playing opposite him as the prostitute Salome is Mariangela Melato, who viewers may recognize from Wertmüller's "Swept Away." She, too, delivers a wonderful performance. The style and pacing of the film are excellent. Cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno captures Rome in a gorgeous, yet unobtrusive manner.In "Love & Anarchy," Wertmüller doesn't pull any punches. As par usual, she lets the politics of her movie decide the fate of its characters, and tragedy ensues. One must admire her for making an extraordinarily brave and beautiful film. She exhibits how powerful and effective a tragic story can truly be in exploring the more complex questions of life.