Moments of Truth: Italian Cinema Classics

November 29, 2008 - December 21, 2008

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, December 19

Neorealism (the term coined by Italian critics in 1942) is generally acknowledged as the first full-fledged movement for an authentic cinema, a reaction both to fascist Italy’s escapist films and the inherent capitalism of Hollywood-style product. But neorealism was a far cry from cinema verité; as lyrical as it was direct, as sentimental as it was polemic, it was, after all, art. Our series celebrates the art in this initial moment of truth and its many inheritors in Italian cinema. Open City from 1945 is one of Roberto Rossellini’s great contributions to cinema and to our sense of Italian history; it’s also a magnificent showcase for Anna Magnani. A generation later, Ermanno Olmi proved himself to be one of the most original talents of the sixties in quiet tales of desperation built of lyrical observation and gently cynical humor. In Rocco and His Brothers, we sense Visconti the neorealist and Visconti the opera impresario in what is quite simply one of the most moving works of world cinema. Similarly, though little seen now, The Moment of Truth may be Francesco Rosi’s greatest film, cornering despair with dazzling, unorthodox techniques much like his peasant protagonist in the bullring. Catholics in Italy were forbidden to see La dolce vita, but there are more miracles of quick and real pathos than there are orgies in the world on which former journalist Fellini files his report.

Judy Bloch
Publications Director

Saturday, November 29, 2008
8:00 p.m. Open City
A Rossellini/Magnani classic—as moving and agonizing today as it was in 1945.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
5:15 p.m. Umberto D.
De Sica’s “simple, almost Chaplinesque story of a man fighting to preserve his dignity is even more moving for its firm grasp of everyday activities. . . . A truly great film.”—Chicago Reader

Friday, December 5, 2008
6:30 p.m. The Battle of Algiers
“Because of its perfect fusion of form and content, one of the most strikingly successful subversive films ever made.”—Amos Vogel

Wednesday, December 10, 2008
7:00 p.m. Rocco and His Brothers
A southern Italian family seeking a better life in Milan mirrors the transformation of postwar Italian society in Visconti’s masterwork starring Alain Delon. “The emotional sweep of a Verdi opera and the narrative density of a 19th-century novel.”—N.Y. Times

Saturday, December 13, 2008
6:30 p.m. The Moment of Truth
Francesco Rosi’s definitive cinematic treatment of bullfighting, “rendered with vivid brilliance by this uncommonly unsentimental director.”—Time Out

Sunday, December 14, 2008
6:30 p.m. Sandra
Visconti’s mood piece is an Elektra story in a family haunted by secrets and the shadow of the Holocaust.

Thursday, December 18, 2008
6:30 p.m. Il Posto
Ermanno Olmi’s humane and heartbreaking portrait of a young man embarking on his first job in Milan captures the alienation of the working world.

Thursday, December 18, 2008
8:30 p.m. The Fiancés
This love story prompted critic Stanley Kauffman to remark, “Olmi moves through film like a bird through the air.”

Friday, December 19, 2008
8:45 p.m. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Rarely shown, Elio Petri’s suspense-thriller staring Gian Maria Volonté is a “potent study of power as pathology.”—Village Voice

Saturday, December 20, 2008
6:30 p.m. Zabriskie Point
Antonioni filmed the ’60s war between radical and straight cultures in L.A. and Death Valley. “A sorrowing, stranger’s-eye view of modern America.”—Time

Sunday, December 21, 2008
3:00 p.m. La dolce vita
A sell-out in our summer widescreen series, this Fellini masterpiece eddies around Marcello Mastroianni’s definitive performance as a jaded reporter drawn to the decadence he sensationalizes.

Co-presented by Istituto Italiano di Cultura San Francisco.



Series curated by Susan Oxtoby. PFA wishes to thank the following individuals and institutions for their assistance with this series: Valeria Rumori and Robin Treasure, IIC; Grover Crisp, Sony Pictures Entertainment; Sarah Finklea and Brian Belovarac, Janus Films; Eric Di Bernardo, Rialto Pictures; Dennis Doros, Milestone Film & Video; Emily Horn, Paramount; and Marilee Womack, Warner Bros.