The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, is a 1970 Italian film based on Giorgio Bassani 's novel published in 1962. The film was directed by Vittorio De Sica and written by Vittorio Bonicelli. The music provided by Manuel De Sica, takes the audience on a journey from romantic to bittersweet. The film focuses on Italy 's political condition of fascism in 1938 Ferrara, Italy. This touching film displays the lives of an aristocratic Jewish family (Finzi-Contini) living in Italy during World War II. They fail to comprehend the threat of the Nazis until its too late, when the Jewish people of the town are rounded up and concentrated in the school building. The story unfolds with the increasing limitations on the rights of Jewish people in Italy. Mussolini 's racial laws are beginning to take force on the rights of the Jewish people. Prohibitions such as no servants, no library …show more content…
In some scenes, the camera zooms in on things the director may want the audience to notice. For example, the trees which also serve an importance in the film are zoomed into, mainly the 500-year-old tree. Remarkably, the camera focuses on the tree during Alberto’s death scene, because Alberto’s failing health serve as an indicator of the Jewish community in Ferrara, Italy. Not to mention, the scene where the camera zooms in Alberto 's hand, to reveal his illness early in the film. On another note, the camera zooms in Micol’s Star of David necklace, the zoomed in scenes of Jewish symbols remind the audience the Finzi-Continis and Giorgio’s family are Jewish. More over reinforcing that regardless of their social status, they’re still Jews. Though, the Finzi-Continis hardly seem to care about the fact that their rights are slowly being taken away. It appears their wealth and social status have put them above the laws, and the garden seems to promise that nothing will change, again enforcing this theme of false
The film I will focus on is the Men of Atalissa by Kassie Bracken. The significant limit of the rights that these disabled men faced was the right of a livable wage. The film depicted how the men were dedicated workers and wanted a good life for themselves. However, because of being disabled, they were not paid a fair wage for their work. The people in the town would refer to them as the boys (Bracken, 2014). This illustrated that they were devalued and seen as less important. In addition, when they were seen as the boys it could have been an excuse to devalue their work and pay them less. I choose this as most significant because all the men were promised a lavish retirement if they worked at the turkey farm. They strived for this lifestyle,
Ginsborg P (1990). ‘A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics: 1943-1980’ Published by Penguin; Reprint edition (27 Sep 1990).
Multiple historians have touched on the change in government during Fascist Italy’s reign in World War II. In Italian Fascism: Its Origins and Development, Alexander De Grand clarifies the many promises Benito Mussolini fabricated for the Italian people in order to get them to join his cause such as the improvement on poverty with the rise of a new Roman Empire. De Grand also gives an opposite view, with some citizens seeing Fascism as a “model of efficiency.” In Melton S. Davis’ Who Defends Rome?, t...
Karl Stern is an artistic, lanky, beat up, Jewish fourteen year-old boy whose only refuge is drawing cartoons for his younger sister and himself. All that changes in an instant when he meets the boxer, Max Schmeling in his father’s art gallery. In exchange for a painting, Karl will receive lessons from the world renowned fighter and national German hero. Suddenly he has a purpose: train to become a boxing legend. As the years go by and he gets stronger, both physically and emotionally, so does the hatred for the Jews in Germany. This new generation of anti-Semitism starts when Karl gets expelled from school and grows until his family is forced to live in Mr. Stern’s gallery. Though the Stern’s have never set foot into a synagogue and do not consider themselves “Jewish”, they are still subjects to this kind of anti-Semitism. They try to make the best of it, but Karl can see how much it affects his family. His mother is getting moodier by the day, his sister, Hildy, hates herself because of her dark hair and “Jewish” nose and his father is printing illegal documents for some secret buyers. On Kristallnacht the gallery is broken into and the family is torn apart. Karl must now comfort his sister and search for his injured father and his mother. With the help of some of exceptional people, he manages to get over these many obstacles and make his way to America.
Italy embarked on a long rebuilding journey. No matter how hard Italy tries to forget Fascism, it will always leave an everlasting mark on society there, and it will go down in history as the
In the second half of the film, it is now March 13th, 1943, and the liquidation of the ghetto is taking place. Many Jews are unjustly killed as they are pulled from their houses or did not co-operate. Those who tried to hide are found and kill...
Italian Neorealism, a movement that focused on the arts began in 19th century post war Italy and “became the repository of partisan hopes for social justice in the post war italian state.” (Marcus, xiv) Even before the war, Italy had been under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini and his corrupt form of government, Fascism, which caused oppression throughout the country. Neorealistic films allowed filmmakers to use common styles and techniques to finally reveal the world filled with anguish and misery that Mussolini had created. These films allowed the rebirth of Italy with the new ideals of freedom and social order. Some directors choose to add melodramatic elements to their neorealistic film which goes against Neorealism’s goal to project the Italy in its real form. However, although Rome Open City by Roberto Rossellini and Bitter Rice by DeSantis have classic hollywood narrative characteristics, the portrayal of women and children represent neorealist principles that help us further understand the struggles and conflicts of women and children during post-war Italy.
... things up to the worst of it all. The readers can take away that just because you believe something different then somebody else, doesn’t make them or you a bad person or different in any way. This topic shows that long before the concentration camps, Jews were being singled out and treated terribly. The study of the Holocaust matters to show people what happened so that others can learn from it and learn to accept people no matter what their religion. It must not be forgotten because the people who suffered in it should be remembered. It was a terrible time that should never happen again. All of the laws passed leading up to the Night of the Broken kept increasing Hitler's power and ability to persecute the Jews because there was little reaction to his actions; the violence and persecution increased leading to the final solution because of this indifference.
...cultivating the garden lets the group of characters keep away from the unfair world in which pessimism is present, while cause and effect are easily measurable in the garden.
The first images of the garden are seen through the exaggerated imagination of a young child. “” are as “ as flowers on Mars,” and cockscombs “ the deep red fringe of theater curtains.” Fr...
Mussolini’s population policy was a clear effort to exercise his authoritarian control over the people of Italy, regulating the most personal and private details of their lives. In his bid for complete control, he used new laws, propaganda, and sometimes brutal tactics in order for his wishes to be recognized. It is during the 1920’s to the 1940’s that totalitarian control over the state escalated into full dictatorships, with the wills of the people being manipulated into a set of beliefs that would promote the fascist state and “doctrines.”
The novel “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith is a both significant and interesting novel for its fascinating story of Francie Nolan’s physical and emotional growth. To begin, young Francie lets the reader understand that even through poverty, it is important to enjoy the little things in life, to value life itself even when it is evidently polluted by greed. Secondly, as Francie grows up, her fall from innocence during her conflicts in life causes her not to be jaded with the world but to become stronger. Growing up is filled with both joy and acrimony, and Francie Nolan’s life is a great example of how a young woman should grow up to be.
There have been literally thousands of books written on the experiences of the Holocaust, many of them from eyewitnesses and victims. Virtually all of the Holocaust literature is moving and important, for the Holocaust is one of the major definitive experiences of world history. Of all the works on the Holocaust, those by Primo Levi, an Italian Jew who survived the Holocaust, are amongst the most powerful. Primo Levi was born in Turin on July 13, 1919; he committed suicide, also in Turin, on April 11, 1987. The experiences of Jews in Fascist Italy were not immediately comparable to those of Nazi Germany. Levi suffered anti-Semitism at school, although again nothing compared to Nazi Germany. He was made fun of in scho...
In The Conformist, Bertolucci’s sheds light on complex issues such as psychological effects of fascism and why one might conform to such a government. The film follows the complicated character of Marcello, a homosexual man with a traumatic homosexual experience in his childhood, which results in him becoming ashamed of his sexuality and begins to fear being shunned by society for it. Marcello deals with this shame by shutting down any homosexual desire he may have and becomes his idealized figure of normal; which at this time was a loyal and disciplined Fascist. Marcello learns how to conform perfectly by becoming a Fascist spy, but two significant people in Marcello’s life disrupt his path to becoming ‘normal’.
The rooms where the action of a story takes place are also very important. Some the rooms used in the book are bedrooms, the dining room, the parlor, and the enclosed garden patio. The first room we see inside of this old house is the garden patio. This room is interesting because the smell from the patio is always associated with the title character. Felipe looks for her in this garden; he smells the patio plants in her hair. Symbolically, the garden can be associated with the mind, with the unconscious, or it may give you clues to your own inner state. The plants, flowers, and fruit found in the garden may also enhance t...