I came across a review of Nanni Moretti's,
Aprile, about an anxiety-plagued director who isn't sure how, or even whether, to finish his films:
"...the self-doubting director in Aprile (played by Moretti himself) is so lazy (emphasis mine) and haphazard that the film is less a serious probing of the creative process than a comical, light-hearted testament to the virtues of procrastination."In the film, Moretti awaits the birth of his son. He is torn between making a "grown-up" documentary about the political situation in Italy or making the film he really wants to make, a whimsical musical. He begins shooting his musical, then quits to make the documentary, then... back to the musical.
The reviewer seems to have missed the entire point of the movie. Moretti's character's indecision springs from the impending birth of a child who will require Moretti to become an adult, to "grow up." His "procrastination" is a sign of his inner struggle, of having to leave the light-hearted world of musicals to the responsible world of
real films,
important films. In the end, Moretti refuses to "grow up," and returns to his passion.
I was glad that Moretti's character returned to his passion at the end of the movie. The world has far too many "grown up" filmmakers making "serious" films. Moretti's character could have made political documentaries - and would have been completely miserable doing it. How does the quote go? Something like, "God's glory is a man fully alive." Along those lines.
By following his passion, Moretti's character was indeed a "grown up." He listened to his inner song and let it take form. I, for one, am tired of grown ups. I am surrounded by them.
I hope Moretti never grows up.
I hated the Italian film, Padre Padrone. I detested it. If only I could find all the copies of this miserable film and throw them into the depths of the Mariana Trench. I only watched it two nights ago because it was the first role for Moretti in a major film (1977). Maybe it was the extended scene of three boys having sex with chickens. No, I believe it was when one of them had sex with a mule. Or maybe the scene when a boy severely beats a sheep before having sex with it.
While eating an excellent turkey bagel sandwich on this gorgeous afternoon, I reread the first chapter of Jacques Ellul's book Money and Power. You can read the whole book online here. (I listed this book in a previous blog as having impacted me many years ago.) Ellul is sometimes called a "Christian anarchist," and his thought is highly influenced by Marx.
There's a scene in Moretti's film, Aprile, where he and his young son sit in a pile of letters he never mailed to the leaders of his political party. At the end of the film, he rides through the streets of Rome on his Vespa, throwing the letters into the wind.
I must film what brings me pleasure, not those ugly things. The designers show their collections in a museum of Florence... And because of that I must go film them?
You know what I was thinking? I was thinking how sad it is that I, even in a society more decent than this one, will always find myself in tune with the minority of people. But not in the sense of those films where there is a man and a woman who hate themselves, stranded on a desert island because the director does not believe in people. I believe in people, just not in the majority of people.
