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POLITICAL
FILM SOCIETY MEETING
The Board of Directors of the Political Film Society will
hold a meeting at 8481 Allenwood Road, Los Angeles, on June
19 at 7 p.m., primarily to reword legal documents to satisfy
IRS regarding the Society’s application to be a tax-exempt
organization.
ITALIANS
RE-FIGHT WORLD WAR II IN FILM
Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922, more than
a decade before Hitler. That he made the trains run on time
was quite enough to inspire praise from ordinary Italians,
but for the Americans and British living in Florence one might
imagine that a lack of democracy would be important. Not so
for the females from England and the United States featured
in Tea with Mussolini, the latest film directed
by Franco Zeffirelli, who attempts a cinematic autobiography
with a not unexpected artistic license. The "Golden Girls"
enjoy Florence as art lovers, deprecating Britain as a cultural
desert in comparison, and forming a group called "Scorpioni"
for their biting wit, much of it directed by English toward
Americans. Mary (played by Joan Plowright) brings up an illegitimate
but darling boy, Luca Innocenti (played as a youth by Charlie
Lucas, as a teenager by Baird Wallace), who is rejected by
his Italian father, an exporter of British-style clothing,
his would-be Italian stepmother, and whose American mother
is dead. Mary is assisted by the Scorpioni, including Arabella
(played by Judi Dench) and Lady Hester (played by Maggie Smith)
as well as two Americans—Georgie, a Lesbian archaeologist
(played by Lily Tomlin) and Jewish art collector Elsa Morgenthal
(played by Cher). As political options narrow due to the ascendancy
of the Fascists, who disrupt lunch at Doney’s Tea Room, a
restaurant frequented by the expatriates, Lady Hester decides
to protest directly to Il Duce, since her late husband was
Britain’s ambassador to Italy. During tea, the dictator (played
by Claudio Spadaro) reassures her falsely that he will look
out for her.
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When
other English-speaking expatriates leave Italy at the advice
of the British consul, the good ladies remain, believing that
Il Duce is protecting them and otherwise oblivious of their
fate, but Italian Jews are arrested, Italy allies with Germany,
the British ladies are placed under detention in a squalid
dorm but keep up their spirits, and German soldiers arrive
in Florence.
Elsa,
arrogant and rich but generous, secretly pays to have them
moved to a hotel before she is herself in jeopardy after the
United States enters World War II despite believing herself
to be secure by sleeping with and trusting her perfidious
chauffeur, who charms her by promising to escape with her
to America while wondering whether Italian aliens will be
incarcerated in the United States as Americans and Brits have
been in Italy. The darling boy becomes a resistance fighter
(here Zeffirelli departs from autobiographic reality) and
arranges safe passage for Elsa out of Italy. In due course,
a Scottish infantry unit liberates Florence, but in the nick
of time, as the ladies have chained themselves to priceless
works of architecture that the Germans planned to blow up.
Such is the story, parading women as naïve fools in matters
of politics who successfully defy the military orders of friends
and foes, with many loose ends. We are reminded of the brave
resistance and true story of women under Japanese detention
in Indonesia during World War II in Paradise Road
(1997), and we may wonder why Zeffirelli is determined to
make fools of his women if only for the sake a few laughs
and an effort to promote tourism in Florence for those who
have forgotten Italian culture. It is a pity that Zeffirelli
did not fight in the Italian resistance, as he would doubtless
have made more heroic films, but perhaps we should be grateful
that comedy could be found in the midst of the horrors of
World War II, as in last year’s Academy award winner Life
Is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni. Indeed,
recalling the story of the blind man in At
First Sight who was happy as a lark because he
always found helpful people, the lesson of Tea with
Mussolini, Paradise Road, and Life
Is Beautiful is the same—kind people can create heaven
just about anywhere. MH
NOMINEES
FOR 1999
EXPOSÉ:
Three Seasons
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