The Cinema of Italy

The Cinema of Italy examines recurring historical, thematic and stylistic features of 24 of the most important Italian sound films. Viewing Italian cinema at the intersection of history, politics, art and popular culture, the 24 concise essays of this anthology contextualise each film within both Italian and Western film culture. Alongside the crucial lessons of neorealist masterpieces such as Rossellini's Paisan and De Sica's The Bicylce Thieves, this collection looks at how Italian cinema has confronted both the nation's history (1860, Senso, The Conformist, Lamerica), the so- called 'Southern question' (Salvatore Giuliano, Padre Pedrone), as well as modern configurations of labour and gender relationships through the films of Camerini, De Santis, Olmi, Pasolini, Antonioni, Wertm?ller and the Taviani Brothers. The Cinema of Italy also considers the very personal works of Fellini, Ferreri and Moretti and gives special attention to those filmmakers (Argento and Leone) whose cinema directly addresses such international film genres as horror and the western.

Giorgio Bertellini is Assistant Professor of Film & Video Studies and Romance Languages & Literatures at the University of Michigan