La Dolce Vita
(2-DVD set)
Picture: B+ Sound: B Extras: B+ Film: A
I would imagine choosing
the best Fellini film is much like identifying your favorite child, impossible
to choose, yet a choice with no wrong answer.
Each film has a distinct, yet recognizable, flavor, engaging
sensibilities and feelings often left dormant when watching lesser films. With
that said, La Dolce Vita is my
favorite. Although 8 ˝ and I Vitelloni
possibly receive the most critical praise, La
Dolce Vita remains a film that masterfully blends cynicism, impotence,
uncertainty, humor, love, and superficiality to create an insightful commentary
on modernity. Between its artistic
merit and its cultural influence (any film that introduces a new word into
multiple languages can not be overlooked), La
Dolce Vita has etched itself into cinema history-a regular on a myriad of
top one hundred of all time movie lists.
The only real problem with the film was its lack of availability. Certainly, one could find it on VHS, but for
one spoiled on the visual splendor offered by DVD, the film’s glorious
cinematography was noticeably lost on the inferior medium. Although I find it a shame that it took so
long to release La Dolce Vita on
DVD, I am relieved to find that Koch Lorber put in the necessary time and
resources to offer a stunning release of this cinematic masterpiece.
From the film’s opening
sequence of a helicopter carrying a statue of Christ, La Dolce Vita transports the audience into a world rife with
instability, change, and cynicism.
Rome, once the center of the known world, exists as a wasteland, a
tragic by product of years of war and turmoil.
The film follows journalist Marcello, played by Fellini regular Marcello
Mastroianni, as he ventures through the world of celebrity and artifice,
enjoying the shallow splendor of wealth and childishness at night only to find
a tragic underside at dawn. The film
does not adhere to a traditional narrative, but is rather a series of sequences
that depicts Marcello as he lives the life of a tabloid journalist who both
embraces and eschews his career only tied together at the end of the film.
Credible journalism is
always out of reach of Marcello, whose investigative talents leads to uncover
the next big scandal for a regular gossip column. Marcello enjoys a great deal of access to those he covers, often
finding himself ensconced in the life of the celebrity. His eye for the celebrity, including his wealthy
lover (played by Anouk Aimee) and Sylvia, the sensual American actress brought
to “life” by Anita Ekberg, often gets him in trouble with his live in
girlfriend, whose unrequited love results in multiple suicide attempts.
Although there is enough
to sustain La Dolce Vita as a
relevant work that inspires repeated viewing, the highly symbolic and
historically situated film can often be allusive to present day American
audiences. Therefore, the commentary
track by film historian and Time magazine critic Richard Schickel provides some
historic and intellectual insight into the film that might be inaccessible to
modern audiences unfamiliar with Italian history and its complex relationship
with Catholicism and modernity.
Although Schickel’s commentary is quite informative, it is rather
uninspired; he often trails off at the end of his observations, which gives the
commentary a perfunctory feel. The rest
of the extra features would most likely appeal to only true Fellini fans (but,
I guess no casual film fan buys La Dolce
Vita). On the first disk, there is
an introduction by director Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt, Sideways), which is serviceable, but the
opening montage is about as long as the actual interview. On the second disk, there are a series of
separate interviews with Fellini, Mastroianni, and Ekberg on filmmaking, La Dolce Vita, and their careers in
film. Like many interviews that are
mostly archival and not products of a specific DVD release, context of the
conversation and the questions asked is often lost, but the information and the
opportunity to hear them speak is well worth occasional disorientation.
Koch Lorber did an
excellent job of restoring the film to its original splendor. The widescreen
print (16 X 9 enhanced for widescreen televisions) is free from the scratches
and dust specs that plagued the VHS copy (at least the one I saw). The picture is crisp and clean, the blacks
and whites contrast well. The sound, in
5.1 Surround Sound, is also quite good, echoing the quality of Nino Rota’s
memorable score.
I am writing this review
from incomparable city of Florence, just after a few days spent in Rome. As a film lover, I made certain to visit
many of the places Fellini made famous (at least for me) though his
masterpieces, most notably the Fontana di Trevi (Unfortunately, it was too
crowded to wade though the water without getting arrested). Like Woody Allen with New York, Fellini
enjoyed a complex, loving, and nostalgic relationship with Rome. The Roman wasteland attempting to grasp
modernity that is depicted in many of his films is not the Rome of today. As we walked the streets of Rome at night
(the most beautifully lit city in world), I wondered how Fellini would respond
to the ruins of Rome being illuminated by the most modern lighting systems
available. I guess I’ll never truly
know, but I can hazard a guess after watching this masterpiece.
- Ron Von Burg
