Love and Anarchy

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Study of Turmoil and Human Testing...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Study of Turmoil and Human Testing...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: DVD Technical Review
Review: I have exchanged this DVD twice and find that the quality of the transfer is unacceptable. Fox Lorber simply did a poor job of transferring this film to DVD. I recommend that you NOT purchase this DVD until they do a better job of transferring the movie. The movie deserves better.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent film - poor DVD
Review: One of the early Wertmuller films, allready demonstrating all the hallmarks of her style. A brave film, uncompromising in its grotesquerie, and driving home its bleak message as only Wertmuller can. Not as compelling as the later masterpieces, or demonstrating as much of the trademark humour, but still putting most to shame.
The film deserves a full five stars, but Fox Lorber's dvd deserves zero - a very poorly done transfer made from a very poor source. It looks like the sort of thing you could put together at home from an old vhs copy. This powerful film needs a proper dvd transfer.

Rating:
Summary: Wertmuller's most stylish film
Review: This film, set in a brothel during WWII in fascist Italy, hammers home Wertmuller's common theme that men, ruled by their passions as well as society's views of how men must act (see her film "All Screwed Up" for an even more unambiguous statement of this philosphy), cannot adapt well to change and are often the reasons for their own downfalls. Gianini plays a country peasant who travels to the city to assassinate Mussolini; seemingly devoid of poilitical convictions, the only clue we get to reason behind his mission is his statement, "Sometimes a Man must stand up and say enough!". And it is this statement that is his ultimate downfall.

By contrast, the women in the brothel show themselves to me quite strong, yet capable of adapting to the changes the political situation brings; they can get along with the fascists (allowing them to sample their wares), yet can also strike back or make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their aims (one of the major sacrifices demonstrated is the major character's willingnenss to allow her beloeved to think she betrayed him (and wind up hating her) to save his life. Even the men that get along with the fascists assume the more submissive, traditionally female roles. The real tragedy occurs because Gianini's character refuses to abandon his macho character traits and foolishly goes forward with a suicide mission which is neither well thought out or executed.

Some of Wertmuller's ideas and themes may be a bit dated, remember this was released nearly thirty years ago; but the film provides an entertaining look at a woman's view of a male dominated society in the early days of the womens' liberation movement. The style, pacing, and direction, to sya nothing of the acting talents of Gianini and Melato, contribute to an important film that is well worth viewing.

Rating:
Summary: Wertmuller's most stylish film
Review: This film, set in a brothel during WWII in fascist Italy, hammers home Wertmuller's common theme that men, ruled by their passions as well as society's views of how men must act (see her film "All Screwed Up" for an even more unambiguous statement of this philosphy), cannot adapt well to change and are often the reasons for their own downfalls. Gianini plays a country peasant who travels to the city to assassinate Mussolini; seemingly devoid of poilitical convictions, the only clue we get to reason behind his mission is his statement, "Sometimes a Man must stand up and say enough!". And it is this statement that is his ultimate downfall.

By contrast, the women in the brothel show themselves to me quite strong, yet capable of adapting to the changes the political situation brings; they can get along with the fascists (allowing them to sample their wares), yet can also strike back or make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their aims (one of the major sacrifices demonstrated is the major character's willingnenss to allow her beloeved to think she betrayed him (and wind up hating her) to save his life. Even the men that get along with the fascists assume the more submissive, traditionally female roles. The real tragedy occurs because Gianini's character refuses to abandon his macho character traits and foolishly goes forward with a suicide mission which is neither well thought out or executed.

Some of Wertmuller's ideas and themes may be a bit dated, remember this was released nearly thirty years ago; but the film provides an entertaining look at a woman's view of a male dominated society in the early days of the womens' liberation movement. The style, pacing, and direction, to sya nothing of the acting talents of Gianini and Melato, contribute to an important film that is well worth viewing.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful.
Review: This is a gorgeous film. Sex, Love, and Politics all blended together into one great movie. Though I'll admit it's not for everybody. You really have to love movies to love this film.

Rating:
Summary: Wertmuller's Moral Squint
Review: {I love the reviews posted after the "professional critics" have had their say. They are invariably more forthright and honest, avoiding all the usual hot air that movie reviewers (Leonard Maltin, take note) engage in when their memory of a particular movie comes up fuzzy.] Wertmuller's Love and Anarchy seems to foreshadow her one other film set in Mussolini's Italy (forgetting Blood Feud completely - despite Loren and Mastroianni [and Giannini] in their post-prime). I am referring to, of course, Seven Beauties. But Love & Anarchy features a hero who, while foolish and spotty-faced, is committed to a actual "cause" - i.e., the anarchist-sanctioned assassination of Mussolini. His final days are reckless and muddled, as he falls in love with his cousin in a Roman brothel (too many critics took this as symbolism). Mariangela Melato is yet another hooker with a heart of gold-plate, but she makes her character completely genuine. Giannini plays the hero, whose pathetic quest is made all the more pathetic by his distracting red hair and acne. Wertmuller portrays his last days as an ultimate waste. His mission fails (of course) and he is tortured and killed by Mussolini's thugs. And yet somehow his exploit, despite Wertmuller's rather burlesque view of it, comes off as heroic - else why make a film about such as schlemiel? Wertmuller satirizes the Left as well as the Right, leaving us to believe that her sympathies are with the very anarchists she satirizes in Love & Anarchy. And I have never seen an Italian film with this much "brio" since Pietro Germi.

Rating:
Summary: DVD Technical Review
Review: {I love the reviews posted after the "professional critics" have had their say. They are invariably more forthright and honest, avoiding all the usual hot air that movie reviewers (Leonard Maltin, take note) engage in when their memory of a particular movie comes up fuzzy.] Wertmuller's Love and Anarchy seems to foreshadow her one other film set in Mussolini's Italy (forgetting Blood Feud completely - despite Loren and Mastroianni [and Giannini] in their post-prime). I am referring to, of course, Seven Beauties. But Love & Anarchy features a hero who, while foolish and spotty-faced, is committed to a actual "cause" - i.e., the anarchist-sanctioned assassination of Mussolini. His final days are reckless and muddled, as he falls in love with his cousin in a Roman brothel (too many critics took this as symbolism). Mariangela Melato is yet another hooker with a heart of gold-plate, but she makes her character completely genuine. Giannini plays the hero, whose pathetic quest is made all the more pathetic by his distracting red hair and acne. Wertmuller portrays his last days as an ultimate waste. His mission fails (of course) and he is tortured and killed by Mussolini's thugs. And yet somehow his exploit, despite Wertmuller's rather burlesque view of it, comes off as heroic - else why make a film about such as schlemiel? Wertmuller satirizes the Left as well as the Right, leaving us to believe that her sympathies are with the very anarchists she satirizes in Love & Anarchy. And I have never seen an Italian film with this much "brio" since Pietro Germi.

Rating:
Summary: Wertmuller's Moral Squint
Review: {I love the reviews posted after the "professional critics" have had their say. They are invariably more forthright and honest, avoiding all the usual hot air that movie reviewers (Leonard Maltin, take note) engage in when their memory of a particular movie comes up fuzzy.] Wertmuller's Love and Anarchy seems to foreshadow her one other film set in Mussolini's Italy (forgetting Blood Feud completely - despite Loren and Mastroianni [and Giannini] in their post-prime). I am referring to, of course, Seven Beauties. But Love & Anarchy features a hero who, while foolish and spotty-faced, is committed to a actual "cause" - i.e., the anarchist-sanctioned assassination of Mussolini. His final days are reckless and muddled, as he falls in love with his cousin in a Roman brothel (too many critics took this as symbolism). Mariangela Melato is yet another hooker with a heart of gold-plate, but she makes her character completely genuine. Giannini plays the hero, whose pathetic quest is made all the more pathetic by his distracting red hair and acne. Wertmuller portrays his last days as an ultimate waste. His mission fails (of course) and he is tortured and killed by Mussolini's thugs. And yet somehow his exploit, despite Wertmuller's rather burlesque view of it, comes off as heroic - else why make a film about such as schlemiel? Wertmuller satirizes the Left as well as the Right, leaving us to believe that her sympathies are with the very anarchists she satirizes in Love & Anarchy. And I have never seen an Italian film with this much "brio" since Pietro Germi.