Allonsanfan (1974) Allonsanfàn

Directors: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Writers: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Lea Massari, Mimsy Farmer

A anarchist leader (Fulvio) wishes to retire, as he is old and tired. He tries to hide himself, but his friends find him and insist he carries on helping them.

Of course you have to like the Taviani brothers style, something rather hard for viewers contaminated with the fast moving, predictable (even when trying hard to be unpredictable) plots of Hollywood McDonalds-style commercial movies. Taviani brothers take a bitter look at Italy of the '70's, the time when several leftist revolutionary groups, like the Brigade Rosse, the Autonomia Operaia and the Lotta Continua, chose the path of armed struggle against Italian capitalism, ending in a horrible massacre of politicians, judges, and innocent people. Just like them Fulvio, is of a wealthy, aristocratic origin and his revolutionary stance is just sentimental, not backed by real-life status. He gets easily disillusioned, but, caught in a moving sand, however he struggles to reclaim his past life he gets trapped and is swallowed in the end. It is hard to watch a film that you cannot identify with anyone, but it is worth a try.

More in My Blog