 With a new generation of directors now behind the cameras,
and with a healthy inspiration from the French movement of
the same name, the Italian New Wave (or Nouvelle Vague) took
charge and changed cinema for much of the Vietnam years. From
this inspiration, director Carlo Lizzani decided to create
an anthology of films from the popular directors of the time,
using a largely unknown cast. Invited along on the project
was the father of the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard. This
collection, Love And Anger is what became
of the project … but does it still hold up today?
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Carlo Lizzani directs the first sequence, L’Indifferenza
(Indifference). This prologue sequence sets the tone
of isolation felt throughout the film. In it, we see a woman
being pursued, raped, and possibly murdered right in front
of a huge tenement building. Even though many people see this
happening, no one attempts to save her. Even the sounds of
her screams are negated by someone turning the volume up on
a football game. At the same time, a man and his wife get
into a car accident. No one willing to stop their car for
his dying wife; the police have to commandeer a vehicle. Although
they don’t know it yet, the person driving the vehicle
will refuse to drive it to the hospital. This is a powerful
piece that ends without resolution. It also stars, interestingly
enough, Tom Baker (yes, that Tom Baker, the 4th Dr.
Who).
The
second segment is called Agonia (Agony) and
comes from Bernardo Bertolucci. The sequence runs over 20
minutes and is comprised entirely of an avant-garde theatrical
troupe, The Living Theatre,  performing The Death of God.
It is quite obvious that Bertolucci is still in his art film
phase here, having only the year before released Partner.
Like that film, this is a visually interesting piece that
is difficult to describe. The whole look and feel of the sequence
reminded me of Kubrick. There are lots of static long shots
with bright white backgrounds. I feel that much of the deeper
meaning of the sequence is lost on me, but at the same time
it demands attention.
La Sequenza Del Fiore Di Carta (The Sequence of the
Flower of Paper) is Pier Paolo Pasolini’s contribution.
It is also, most assuredly, the shortest. In fact, I am surprised
at its length, especially coming after  Bertolucci’s
never-ending chapter. But for all its duration (or lack thereof),
it makes its point. It starts out with awesome imagery of
a busy street, visions of World War II stock footage superimposed
over it. Then, a boy carrying a large flower discusses what
it means to be truly “innocent” and how innocence
to war type situations and innocent bystanders are as guilty
as the participants because they refuse to get involved. He
makes a compelling argument, and the whole scene is him walking
down the street while talking in one very long, cool tracking
shot.
 L’Amore
(The Love), Jean-Luc Godard’s contribution
to this film, is quite possibly the most imaginative and least
morose of the whole bunch. In it, a French woman and an Italian
man are watching a movie (from their patio table no less)
about a French woman and an Italian man. They discuss the
movie as it starts, each speaking in their own respective
language while still understanding each other. The characters
in the “film” also speak in their national language,
but they translate what each other says after they say it.
Throughout this chapter, the “audience” characters
will discuss the “film” and, at times, the film
characters will acknowledge this. Is this breaking the 8th
wall? Whatever the case, it is a marvelous piece that only
the director of Breathless could come up with. It is fitting that the father of the French
New Wave is here contributing with the best of the Italian
New Wave. More than any other, this is the chapter that expresses
both love and anger to an awesome level.
Marco Bellochio helms the final installment, titled Discutiamo,
Discutiamo (We Discuss, We Discuss). In it, a professor’s
classroom is taken over by revolutionaries and socialists.
What makes this interesting is that all of the “adult”
roles; the professor, the principal, and ultimately the police,
are all played by college students as well, thus making this
revolution staged, like a play. The concept is interesting,
but it lacks true punch. The silliness is too obvious; many
of the “actors” laugh their way through the arguments,
including Bellochio himself. You can see seeds here of revolutionary
ideas and anti-establishment that later come to fruition in Devil
In The Flesh, but it goes on far too long for its own
good and makes for a poor finale to the feature.
I think in a dream world where I was the editor for this
film, I would have arranged it differently. I would have moved
Bellochio’s segment to the second, bumped Bertolucci’s
to the center and close out with Godard. I think it would
have made for an easier film to watch. All the segments are
good, but some are more uneven than others.
The DVD Presentation
NoShame rarely disappoints with their transfers, and Love
And Anger is no exception. The 2.35:1 transfer looks
great as can be for a film nearly 40 years old, with nary
a blemish on the print. The audio itself is, as usual, Italian
Mono and comes through clear and crisp. I would even go as
far as saying that this ranks with the best audio and video
transfers that NoShame has released. English subtitles are,
naturally, included and seem to match dialog perfectly. Great
job, NoShame!
And The Extras Are?
This set is separated into two discs. There are extras on
both discs.
Poster and Still Gallery (0:19) - A series of four stills and posters pass by with the soundtrack
playing in the background. Four? Rather pointless really.
This review has more than four stills.
Behind Love and Anger (77:18) - A collection of interviews with directors Marco Bellochio
and Carlo Lizzani, assistant director Maurizio Ponzim and
editor Roberto Perpignani. Lizzani starts things out, which
is fitting since he was the brainchild behind this project.
He talks for a good 20 minutes about the conception of the
anthology, his segment, and his relationship with the other
directors,  specifically
Pasolini. Bellochio continues discussing his involvement,
as well as his understandable dissatisfaction with his segment.
He also talks about the process of filming and submitting
without meeting any of the other directors. Ponzim continues,
but discusses more of his history than his contribution to
this project. Perpignani speaks about Love And Anger,
and about his relationship to Bertolucci, whom he worked with
on several occasions. He also discusses his career overall,
including him getting his first job from Orson Welles. Some
of this is similar to what he discussed on the Partner DVD.
Speaking of Bertolucci, it is a shame that NoShame could not
get him involved for this DVD, considering he was available
to speak about Partner. There is a lot of information here,
which is no doubt why it takes up the second disc. I found
much of it interesting, but it should be known that more than
half of this has nothing to do with the feature film.
As always, NoShame’s booklet
is a wealth of information. This particular edition has to
have some points taken off for its lack of original content.
There is a nice two-page commentary on the film, which is
informative and welcome, but other than this, only Godard,
Pasolini, and Lizzan’s bios are new material. The other
two, Bertolucci’s and Bellochio’s are reprints
from previous DVDs. I would like to see more in relation to
the film in question in future books. Not to step on the reprinted
material, it is still well done.
Fine
Earlier in 2005, NoShame brought us Boccaccio
’70, which was an impressive anthology of some of
the largest and most successful Italian directors. Love
And Anger is also an anthology, but certainly not
of the same scale, and thematically it is quite different.
While Boccaccio
’70 was a celebration of sorts, Love has a much darker outlook, and varies greatly in quality.
Surprisingly, much of the film holds up, even now in a vastly
different political climate. Anyone interested in the Italian
New Wave should definitely seek this out, and for Godard fans,
this is an absolute must see.
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