Bread and Tulips is a film about a woman named Rosalba and her journey to find herself. It starts with her being stranded at a rest stop during a family vacation.
Instead of waiting, she decides to visit Venezia because she has always wanted to go there but never got the chance. While there, she finds her independence from her family,
and true love. After her return home in Pescara, her lover from Venezia comes and convinces her to return with him. The film ends with a free-style dance scene over a tango tune,
which symbolizes her choice of happiness and love.
Historical Context
Italy's second republic started in 1992 and goes up until today. Much of the changes had to do with the implosion of the corrupted political system that governed the first
republic. Many of the old parties dissolved, such as the Democrat Christian or Socialist parties. The years after the big cultural revolution of the 1960s-1970s provided a
new perspective in the women, which manifests in a character such as Rosalba, who finds her new life away from the Italian patriarchy.
Preferisco il rumore del mare (I Prefer the Sound of the Sea) is a film about a boy from the South, Rosario, who moves to the north after the mafia kills his mother. A successful
cousin emigrated to the north, Luigi, wants to help Rosario become successful and escape his crime-ridden village in the south. Rosario forms an unlikely friendship with Luigi's son,
Matteo and learns to tolerate the life in the north. However, in the north, Rosario finds many differences from his life in the south mostly having to deal with prejudice. In the end,
Rosario decides that he “prefers the sound of the sea” and that the life in the south amongst his people is worth the fight.
Punk Dancing
One scene in the film focuses on giving some background to Matteo and showing his rebellion through the music he listens to which is punk music. From the late 1970s to the early
2000s, Punk music and danced reached Europe and Italy in a very impactful way. This music has a long history of captivating youth who feel disenfranchised, like Matteo.
Based in "moshing" movement, the punk fans dance it mainly during concerts. Often these "moshes" involve people, who jump up and down and ram their shoulders into each other.
In the above film clip dances around his room and finishes his dance by ramming into his door.
Loose Cannons is a film about an upper class family who finds out one of their sons is homosexual. In reality, both sons are homosexual, but after the news about the oldest,
the father has a stroke thus forcing the younger son, Tommaso, to keep hiding his identity. He wishes to be a writer however, as that the older brother has left his post, is
obliged to work for the family pasta business. Overall, this comedy aims to shed light and make a satirical commentary on the issues LGBTQ+ community suffer in Italy. There is
no particular dance in this film, but the scene shown here shows how dancing beings family together and can span decades (the scene starts at the grandmothers wedding and moves
into her funeral). It can make people happy even in the saddest of times, and brings families together even in sad times.
Historical Context
In Italy, the LGBTQ+ is still fighting prejudice. Today the government has granted homosexual civil unions, but not marriage. The law, in discussion in the Parliament for years,
in 2016 was finally approved. Many people at the time were still not happy with this legislation, as this "victory" was heavily conditioned. (Winfield).
With this in mind, one can see in the film how the father would react as he did.
La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy) is a film about two women, Beatrice and Donatella, who run away from a psychiatric facility. They become fast friends before their escape.
Beatrice is a very loud and exuberant women while Donatella is quiet and brooding. During their escape, they both realize they need help with their mental conditions. Overall,
both women find kinship in each other and form an unexpected bond and sisterhood.
Discoteca (Club)
This film features a scene from a club that gives us a peak into the electronic dance scene of Italy that is currently captivating many. In the film,
Donatella used to work for this club before having her son and her spiral of depression and loss. The punk scene of Italy seemed to flow easily into an
electronic club scene that many people enjoyed. The scene in Italy is not as big as London’s electronic scene. Italy, itself, has a very different type of
scene than most electronic scenes around the world. The Italian electronic dance scene started in the 1980s known as "Italo Disco." This was due to its unique style,
common only in Italy during this time. One can tell this still has some influence on the times. In this scene from the film, it shows the continued influence of the 1980s
style on the contemporary Italian clubs.
