Family, friends, and prostitutes, are all one for Fellini in Amarcord.

Fellini has an amazing power to convey the unspoken, the desired, and above all, the unknown. Using “surrealist” approaches, he is truly capable of tapping into the human subconscious, in a spiritual and emotional way that is able to captivate my soul far beyond any Bunuel ever did. I’ve always seen surrealism as the interpretation of the reality that I can only see inside my head. Bunuel portrayed on screen the tricks the mind plays on reality. Fellini encompassed this and more, for he added heart. Sure there were details and moments of surrealism in Amarcord, such as the strange noise, the underlying deep humming sound that was present in certain moments like the empty town shots, and before going to the “family outing.” It gave it an eerie feeling that was very subtle. Also, the “dance” the generals do before leaving the room where the prince will eventually sleep with Gradisca, was surreal and hysterically funny. Yet, the heart and nostalgic calling for family and community resonates a lot more in Amarcord.

Amarcord filled me with nostalgia for innocence, desires, and family. For me, its chaos and randomness just intensified “the Italian” on screen. Otherwise, the jumps from moment to moment seemed to logically flow from one persons moment in life, to the others. Each moment clearly showed the dynamics within the relationships each held with the other, thus bringing the audience to focus primarily on the family, then towards a sense of community. The family scenes were phenomenal, with everyone “angry” all the time (I say “angry” because for me it was the way they showed love), trying to extend that love towards the other, less apt, family members like the loony younger brother, the son and his dilemmas, mother and son, and husband and wife. The first interaction or argument at the table between the husband and wife, more or less set up the viewers with the understanding of the type of relationship they hold. Types of relationships like my grandparents had, that have stuck it out thick and thin, who rarely show affection the way we are now accustomed to, but instead show it through details and silences. The most salient one was when the wife was there to support her husband after he got questioned for subversion towards the government, as she motherly washed him and took care of him. However, the most impacting and emotional moment for me was when she was at the hospital. She knows she is going to die, and as the son youthfully chatters away, the glances she has towards her husband and the way she plays with her wedding ring speak far beyond words. It was a simple and extremely emotional moment. She is summing up all her life, remembering their elope, their fights and dedication towards unity, the unspoken ways they loved…as he still maintains his “insensible” persona, looking out the window, and never seeing the way she glances at him while she takes her wedding ring on and off, playing with it with such regard and emotion…it almost brought me to tears. Another great family scene was the “family outing,” when they picked up the husbands younger brother, who was apparently insane. The love of the father (or grandfather) towards his loony son is greatly touching, and yet comical, as he tries to share a “bonding/manly” moment by peeing together but the loony son forgets to unzip before peeing. During the family outing there are other quotidian scenes such as the child that wants to put a brick in the baby’s basket, things that one might have missed if one was not paying attention. But the most “surreal” (for its oddity) yet oh so possibly real part (not to mention genius and hysterical) was the loony brothers cries from the top of the tree, for a woman. In essence, it seems that’s the theme of the film, what all the people in the movie want… relationships. From the prostitute, to Gradisca, to the bum who speaks of harems of thirty dancing for him, the tobacco lady, almost everybody, perhaps except for “the narrator,” who randomly appears giving us details regarding the lives of others and talking about architecture.
Still, they all manage to be there for each other, from the prostitute to the family nucleus.

Italy, for the most part, still closely maintains the family and the community, particularly in the southern part of Italy. However, Fellini’s treat was to engage us in these communal standards,by captivating the comedy of life, even in its tragic moments, with us, living all around the world.