by David Anderson
The cinephiles among us are by now familiar with the ‘coming of age’ theme in
film narratives and even recognize it as a distinct genre, especially in European flicks.
Most directors working in the art house circuit feel the need at some point in their
careers to construct a story around a character's youthful development, wisdom gained
through a loss of innocence or, more frequently, the inevitable teary first failed love
affair. Some filmmakers have returned to this premise more
than once ( Truffaut used it repeatedly ), and one can only hope that such attempts make a
fresh start on a very old story.
One film that does just that is Malena, the latest creation of writer and director
Giuseppe Tornatore. One of Italy's leading contemporary talents, Tornatore is best known
for his "Cinema Paradiso", a lovingly sentimental homage to the history of the
medium.
As with that film, Tornatore has chosen again to give us a story as seen through the eyes
of a child on the verge of adulthood, this time with Renato, a thirteen year old schoolboy
in a seaside town in Sicily.
The time is 1941, and Fascist Italy is on the brink of war with the Allies. Renato,
however, is concerned with more important matters, like being accepted by his clasmates
and getting a bicycle. Renato strains at the bit of adolescence, and he resents still
being treated as a child. His mother worries after him but can't hope to fathom his
teenage machinations. His father, at times, understands him all too well; by threats and
promises in turn he tries to bring the boy around.
As a peace offering, dad rewards Renato with a brand new bike, which helps to improve his
status with his older, more worldly friends. Boys will always be boys, and in Sicily that
means a lot of girl watching. The main object of their attention is one woman in
particular, the beautiful Malena Scarpia. Malena, Renato learns, is the daughter of the
Latin teacher at school, and she has moved to town with her husband Nico, a young officer
who has gone off to war. The boys stand transfixed whenever Malena passes by, and her
comings and goings produce a predictable variety of boasts and jibes from the bunch of
them.
In fact, Malena is the main subject of discussion by everyone in the vicinity, or so it
seems to Renato. No detail of her personal life, from her
recent marriage to her daily ambulations, has escaped the rude attentions of the good
citizens, with the men sharing jokes cutting and crude while the womenfolk exchange
knowing glances as they look on her with scorn and jealousy. Appearances here mean
everything, yet Malena remains proud and aloof and appears to care little for the sniping
of her neighbors.
Like the others, Renato is moved by the young woman's beauty and grace, and she quickly
becomes the star of his lustful fantasies. The desires of infatuation are met with painful
rebuke from his parents; "You'll go blind!" his father shouts during his furtive
bouts of self-abuse. Yet Renato's feelings soon mature from the mere physical as he learns
more about his secret love. Because he is small, he is able to observe her at will, and
through his spying he comes to know and respect her for her virtue and dutiful intentions
as her life suddenly takes a turn for the worse. "Don't worry," he tells her in
another of his youthful fantasies, " I will take care of you and protect you. Just
wait a few years for me to grow up."
Things go badly for Italy as well, and ultimately the war is lost. Things get bad and
worse before they get better for Malena as well. More than just a conventional war drama,
Malena manages to evoke strong emotions while steering clear of sentimentality. It tells
the tale of a valuable lesson learned, while engaging the viewer with bittersweet and
often comic situations that are a necessary part of youth. Tornatore adds to the
film’s more lyric moments with his dynamic style, and ,at times, appears to have
inherited from the Neo-Realists an ability to add emotion with long, sweeping shots.
Finally, this film marks another successful collaboration between Tornatore and Academy
Award winning composer Ennio Morricone, who has provided a
memorable soundtrack ( Look for a possible Oscar nomination here ).
If you want to wind down from the holidays by taking in an action picture, you'll need to
look further. Malena is a thoughtful and provoking film that will, once again, remind us
that art can also be entertainment.
Malena is currently showing at the Lagoon Theater.)
|
|
