Scorsese addresses these movies with professional and personal passion. He endearingly uses his childhood memories, supplemented with photos and old home movies, made before he was born and only recently given to him, of his grandparents (he says, touchingly, "I never thought I'd see these people moving again"). He shows storyboards he drew as a child, the only way he had then of making movies. Many of the clips he shows are from the American-release versions of the movies, what he actually saw on TV and in theaters.
Most of the movies are from the neo-realist school. Scorsese describes neo-realism as "dissolving the barrier between documentary and fiction." Partly this was intentional on the filmmakers' part, to show the world what Italy went through during World War II. But it was partly out of necessity -- the Nazis confiscated their film equipment and the Allies bombed their studios. So, with no sets and no money to pay professional actors, they filmed on the streets with "real" people.
It's a valuable education for anyone interested in cinema. Scorsese discusses not only the movies, but the social and cultural setting, the lives of the directors, and how certain scenes influenced his own work. Though it's four hours long, I wished it was longer -- he focuses on a few films and a few directors, and I'd have liked a wider view, although I suppose the major directors were the only ones he was exposed to growing up. For example, he spends far too long, to my taste, on an early Fellini film, I Vitelloni, which means a lot to him personally but doesn't seem all that important artistically or culturally.
Turner Classic Movies showed this documentary, then followed it up all month long with some of the movies Scorsese talks about, an incredible opportunity considering that many of them are impossible to find on video. I taped as many as I could:
Umberto D. (1952): A deeply moving story about a retired bureaucrat struggling to get by on his meager pension, his only friends the maid at his boarding house and his dog Flag. When his landlady tries to evict him for not paying his rent, he frantically tries to raise the money, but in the end he can't sacrifice his dignity to beg. Carlo Batista, a professor, plays Umberto D. beautifully, and Flag is as fully formed as any human character. A wonderful film, kind of depressing but ultimately uplifting. Directed by Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief).
Ossessione (1942): The first filming of James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice (and director Luchino Visconti's first film), it's very different from the Hollywood version a few years later -- not necessarily better. It's gritty and plain; the actors used no make-up, and the locations were found, not built. Clara Calamai isn't as cool and calculating as Lana Turner; in fact, she comes off as more the victim. The movie powerfully evokes the destructive obsession the two lovers have for each other. At moments, you feel like the camera isn't even there, like you're right there with the characters.
La Terra Trema (The Earth Trembles) (1947): This movie began as a documentary of Acitrezza, a small fishing village in Sicily. Director Luchino Visconti overlaid a plot (sometimes a bit awkwardly) but used only the villagers and their homes -- no professional actors and no sets. Despite or perhaps because of his aristocratic origins, Visconti was a committed communist, and this story has the fishermen of one family, the Valastros, revolting against the middlemen who exploit them. The non-actors are sometimes awkward but charismatic, particularly one of Valastro boys, 'Ntoni, who leads the revolt against the middlemen, risking everything his family has, and his sister, Mara, who runs the household. The movie runs too long and loses momentum after a while, but it's a striking example of neo-realism.
Roma, Città Aperta (Open City) (1946): Martin Scorsese describes this film by saying, "History and cinema met to create something uniquely powerful." It's more immediate than a documentary, more realistic than a movie. Wonderful, tragic little vignettes of Italians trying to survive during World War II.
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