Sorrentino, "The Great Beauty", 2013
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Terraferma
The juxtaposition between the beginning scene and final scene of Terraferma is a striking visual. The first scene is an underwater view of a fishing boat. It almost feels as though the audience is underwater watching the boat go over them and eventually feeling caught in the boat's net. Even the audio in this scene immolates the feeling of being underwater. Then in the final scene, the audience watches the boat from a bird's eye view. One analysis of these contrasting scenes could be the scenes represent Filippo's transformation through the film. At first he feels somewhat trapped in his small town and struggles to form his own opinions on immigration due to society's beliefs. By the end of the movie he flees his small town to save the mother and son. He now is leaving his town and has his own personal beliefs about immigration. He goes from feeling trapped like someone underwater to free like a bird.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The movie features an ominous beginning with the discovery that the boat is falling apart. However, the film does an excellent job of conveying this in a way without dialogue through music and angles. The film juxtaposes beautiful seaside scenes with the grave material. The film compares two women who both want to see their children succeed. Who are seeking to travel into the unknown and are willing to make sacrifices to reach their goals. This is a movie about Italian hospitality. The way Italians treat some like guests and others like fugitives. Another take away from the film is a story of a boy who grows up. Fillipo grows up through exercising the traits which he learned from his uncle, such as sticking up for himself. Fillipo also seems to grow up when the look he practiced in the mirror to woo the girl, he practices when she leaves the island. There is a sense of conclusion marked by the exercise of the things Fillipo learns. The virgin Mary guides them, which points toward a religiosity and mysticism which evokes sentimentality at the film’s end.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting, I did not even pick up on how the film began with under the boat and ended with a birds eye view of the boat. Like you said, it represents how Fillipo has transformed throughout the film from not wanting to help any African immigrants to helping the mother and son, although he knows he could get in deep trouble.
ReplyDelete