L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano " I am glad that the Criterion Channel f e a t u r e s t w o m a s t e r p i e c e s b y E t t o r e S c o l a , A Special Day and La nuit de Varennes and they also have a c o u p l e o f f i l m s t h a t h e wrote. But it would be great i f s t r e a m i n g s i t e s c o u l d make more of his films avai- l a b l e t o a u d i e n c e s i n t h e U S , " E d w a r d B o w e n , Assistant Teaching Professor of Italian at the University of Kansas, says. Bowen dedica- t e d s o m e o f h i s r e c e n t research to Scola's cinematic career. Through his research and teaching, he hopes to contribute to a revival in i n t e r e s t i n t h e d i r e c t o r ' s work. Last year, a volume of 14 essays that Bowen co-edited with Rémi Lanzoni, titled The Cinema of Ettore Scola ( D e t r o i t : W a y n e S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 2 0 2 0 ) , appeared in print, marking t h e f i r s t b o o k i n E n g l i s h entirely dedicated to Scola. Most recently, Bowen wrote a n a r t i c l e o n t h e c r i t i c a l reception of Scola's films in the United States for a spe- cial issue of Italy's historic film journal Bianco e Nero (no. 601, October 2021) that focuses on Scola's cinematic career. These publications appeared roughly five years a f t e r t h e p a s s i n g o f t h e famed Italian director of We A l l L o v e d E a c h O t h e r S o Much (1974) and A Special Day (1977). Dr. Bowen, what were t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t goals of your article on Scola for Bianco e Nero? First, I wanted to better u n d e r s t a n d w h e r e E t t o r e Scola's films were shown in the United States, for how long, and how critics reacted to them. Scola had a long career as a director, from his first film in 1964 until his last in 2013; however, only d u r i n g t h e h e i g h t o f h i s c a r e e r i n t h e 1 9 7 0 s a n d 1980s did his films receive much attention from US cri- tics or circulate in major US cities – mainly New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston, and Chicago. I discovered that American critics, in large part, prefer- red Scola's dramas set in the past over his satirical por- t r a i t s o f c o n t e m p o r a r y society. In the study publi- shed in Bianco e Nero, I also aimed to discuss the i m p o r t a n c e o f f e s t i v a l s , retrospectives, and univer- sity courses for the circula- t i o n o f h i s w o r k a n d t h e growth of his critical reputa- tion. I was surprised to find out that Scola's first film to be selected for the New York Film Festival was Passione d'Amore in 1981. This festi- val gave the film an impor- t a n t b o o s t , a n d i t w a s r e v i e w e d b y m o r e c r i t i c s than other movies of his. I also learned that Michael Kutza, the director of the Chicago International Film Festival, was a steadfast pro- moter of Scola's films and e v e n o r g a n i z e d a p a r t i a l retrospective in 1984. I only had limited space to cover some of these points in my r e c e n t a r t i c l e , s o I m a y return to this topic someday. What brought you to Scola's work in the first place? In the late 1990s, while s t u d y i n g U S h i s t o r y a t Wake Forest University, I audited several courses on Italian cinema, language, a n d h i s t o r y w i t h P r o f . Antonio Vitti, and he beca- me my mentor. He screened a n I t a l i a n f i l m e v e r y Wednesday night and seve- ral by Scola each semester. Scola's films gave me a bet- ter understanding of many moments in Italian history, i n c l u d i n g t h e c o u n t r y ' s experience with fascism and WWII, as well as the econo- mic boom. I found his narra- t i v e s t o b e c o m p e l l i n g because they also addressed love triangles, friendships, f a m i l y d r a m a , d e l u s i o n s , and more. C'Eravamo Tanto Amati (We All Loved Each Other so Much), in particu- lar, increased my curiosity for film history. In 2016, when scholar Rémi Lanzoni asked me to co-edit with him a v o l u m e o n S c o l a , I w a s happy to accept. How did Scola express his political views in his movies? He used a variety of stra- tegies. One of his preferred methods of political com- m e n t a r y w a s t o u t i l i z e emblematic or allegorical characters in comedies and dramas to reflect on corrup- tion, oppression, and inept intellectuals, and to criticize unbridled capitalism. Scola u s e d t h i s s t r a t e g y i n C'Eravamo Tanto Amati, La Terrazza (1980) and many o t h e r f i l m s . S c o l a ' s U n a Giornata Particolare (1977) highlights the oppressive qualities of fascism by pre- senting a large apartment complex as a sort of prison, where fellow citizens carry out surveillance on others. Scola's antifascism shows t h e d i s a s t r o u s e f f e c t s o f Mussolini's decisions on the lives of individuals, relation- ships, and communities. We a l s o s e e t h i s a p p r o a c h i n Concorrenza Sleale (2001), which demonstrates how the anti-Semitic Racial Laws of 1938 tore apart communi- t i e s , r e l a t i o n s h i p s , a n d paved the way for the displa- cement of Jewish residents to ghettos and later concen- tration camps. Some of his most overtly political films i n c l u d e h i s d o c u f i c t i o n Trevico-Torino: Voyage in Fiatnam (1972) that addres- ses the exploitation and dif- ficult living conditions of Southern Italian migrants working in Turin in the early 1 9 7 0 s , a n d h i s f o l l o w - u p Kansas University scholar Edward Bowen talks about Ettore Scola's reception in the US SILVIA GIUDICI Edward Bowen with The Cinema of Ettore Scola, the book he co-edited with Rémi Lanzoni (Photo: Morgan Nolte) Continued to page 28 LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE TRADITIONS

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