Scanialara
You won't be disappointed!
Cubussoli
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
sharky_55
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is not just a physical safe space from the pressures and evils of a world about to be plunged into a second world war, but also a metaphysical memory of the mind, a last enduring remnant of the pre-war society where Jews were not third class citizens. De Sica obliges with his camera, never revealing it in its entirety, never connecting the endless towering walls of the estate to the rest of the town, or constraining its limits. It has a mystical quality that doesn't seem to be defined by logical or rational size limits. The lighting is over-exposed to create a dreamy, utopian aura like the characters are prancing about in the Garden of Eden. The camera steals peeks from behind trees and zooms in with a slight shakiness, as if we were voyeuristically intruding on this paradise. And we have a reversal too, that certainly goes against the propaganda of the time and Hitler's wishes - the Jews aren't dishevelled caricatures but tall and beautiful with the blondest of locks. Micol is particularly graceful, and has caught the eye of a fellow Jewish boy, although they might be from different worlds altogether the way that this is portrayed. Their first meeting is, as convention goes, Micol peeking over the great big walls of her estate and conversing with the lowly Giorgio. This motif has been used to indicate distance before - think Romeo and Juliet - but here it is imbued with a greater purpose and sense of injustice because they are after all of the same Jewish descent. They prance about in their mansion as if not aware of this biological fact; flaunting their privilege and wealth - when Jews are barred from the local tennis club, they host their own because they of course have their own courts. And when Giorgio is barred from the local library, he consults their vast book stores. De Sica establishes this all with a keen eye. His camera, long removed from his neorealist days, draws attention to itself and pieces of information that are vital. In a pivotal scene, Giorgio is so lovestruck that he climbs the cabana to spy on her private affairs. He is despondent to find the aftermath of a love affair between Micol and the tall, dark Bruno Malnate, who was presumably too frank in his political views to ever associate with her. And what does Micol do? Not hurriedly move to cover herself, but instead gazes right at Giorgio, as if to force him to confront the truth of her nature, and how it has been violated (but willingly of course, as Mussolini had done) by the fascist gentleman. That pretty idealist version of her is long gone in the past, made murky by the tendrils that would lead to the Holocaust. The garden remains in Giorgio's mind, long after the Jews rights have been taken from them until not even his father can justify it. But it does not unfold like some nightmare that has been fetishsized for maximum horror and impact. When he is told that he cannot stay in the library, he asks why, and the security guard cannot give him an answer, only that he is following orders. And how many soldiers have testified to that claim? On the one hand, we have Schindler's List, and on the other we have this - a slow, systematic purge, that is continually justified until it can no longer be. The children cheer because they will miss school, never mind any real implications. The vile undertone of anti-Semitism lurks throughout, and Finzi-Contini's ignore it and ignore it and ignore it...until they no longer can, and the precedent that De Sica has set is torn down. That 500 year old estate has no bearing.
JasparLamarCrabb
A stunner. Vittorio De Sica's late career masterpiece exposes the hopeless plight a lot of Italian Jews faced as the lunatic Mussolini got further and further into bed with Hitler during WWII. The Finzi-Continis, a well-to-do family of intellectuals fail to realize the rising tide of anti-semitism around them as their vast estate becomes more and more a sanctuary for their equally blind friends. Unrequited love and missed chances at romance are dwarfed in importance as the Nazis move in. This is a very unsettling movie as you're well aware of what is going to happen to these people. De Sica (and five or six uncredited scriptwriters) creates a real sense of dread and the film is populated with an excellent cast. Lino Capolicchio is the standout, hopelessly in love with Finzi-Contini débutante Dominique Sanda. As Sanda's infirm brother, Helmut Berger personifies an entire race of people about to be systematically eliminated. Fabio Testi and Romolo Valli (excellent as Capolicchio's grotesquely optimistic father) are in it too.
kosmasp
There is a really good review of this movie by another user (his summary is "imperfect but unforgettable"), so if you can check that out please. If you read it, you will also understand that there is a lot of (background) knowledge/info in this comment. Which begs the question: Do you have to know all of this (like the poem that utilizes the same location?) to fully understand and enjoy this movie? Or is it possible to watch it without prior knowledge? It's a difficult question to answer. But as it is, I can only answer that this indeed is unforgettable. It's story core is really heavy and while there are some sub-stories interwoven into this, you always have this feeling of uncertainty running through it. Still the characters are not far from blandness and never fully engage you. The story seems confusing (though it is simple enough, it seems to be more complicated), which takes you a bit off it. (or that could be the case, depending on your concentration on it) There is space for improvement on this, though it does not take anything away from the ending ...
tsf-1962
In its own quiet way this Vittorio de Sica gem is as gripping and powerful as such more graphic Holocaust films as "Schindler's List" and "Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom." It deals with a wealthy Italian Jewish family living in a secluded estate in the city of Ferrara. The Finzi-Continis are almost completely assimilated and have little in common with their fellow Jews, but once Mussolini's racial laws begin to take effect they open their gardens to young Jews from the neighborhood. The movie depicts the fatal passivity of people who think they're safe, that monstrous social upheavals won't touch them. Slowly but surely the Jews of Italy have their freedom taken away from them; before they know what's happening they're headed for Auschwitz. The movie leaves the fate of the Finzi-Continis unresolved, but we know from the novel by Giorgio Bassani that none of them survived. This film is beautifully photographed with the visual opulence one has come to expect from Italian cinema, with a haunting score and memorable performances, especially by the ravishing Dominique Sanda, quite possibly the most beautiful woman to ever appear on film. This is a movie everyone should see, since it drives home only too clearly the lesson that freedom can never be taken for granted, that what happened in Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy could happen here too. No one is safe.
