Caterina In The Big City

For the film Caterina In The Big City, I gave a presentaion- here are clips from the presentation-

Caterina in the Big City

Quick Facts
Director -Paolo Virizi
Released -January 1, 2003 (June 3, 2005 in the US)
Country of Origin- Italy
Genre – Comedy, Drama, Foreign

Cast
Alice Teghil - Caterina Iacovoni
Sergio Castellitto - Giancarlo Iacovoni
Margherita Buy - Agata Iacovoni
Carolina Iaquaniello - Margherita Rossi Chaillet
Federica Sbrenna - Daniela Germano
Zach Wallen - Edward
Galatea - Ranzi Livia
Claudio Amendola - Manlio Germano

Plot
When 12 (15) year old Caterina and her family move from Northern Italy to Rome, Caterina finds that fitting in may be harder then she first imagined. Her class is divided politically with cliques fighting for Caterina’s attention. Her father, Giancarlo, thrilled that Caterina’s new friends have influential parents uses Caterina’s connections to better himself. During all this, Caterina who is still struggling to fit in, loses who she really is inside. When all seems lost to Caterina her Australian neighbor helps her to remember the girl she once was.

Important Scenes
Begging of movie
Class Room Scene
Cliques
Hiding Next Door
Scenes with Margherita and Daniela

Influence of "Cliques"
Giancarlo shows how Italy is divided into more then just North and South and by political parties. Italy is a country that is also torn apart by cliques. According to Giancarlo unless you are apart of a clique you can never be successful.

Social and Political Influences
There is a great divide in Italian society, not only between the North and the South, but also between the different political parties.
Most notably between the Communist and Fascists parties.

Realism Vs Formalism
The film tends to be realistic when showing the feelings and struggles of the characters

Imagined Italies
Why “Italians” don’t exist-
There is no centralized city
North- more European : South- more African
No sense of “we”

Foot Ch 4
Political Parties in Italy
Socialist Party 1892-1993
Italian Communist Party 1921 – 1990-1
Italian Popular Party 1919-1926
Christian Democrats 1942-1994
Fascists Party 1921-1945
Italian Social Movement 1946-1994

Disscusion Questions
How do the relationships within the family change as Caterina begins to make friends?
Giancarlo and Caterina
Agata and Giancarlo
Does this film support the idea of Italians?
What/ who is this film more about? Caterina trying to find her self? Or Giancarlo trying to make a name for himself?

My Thoughts
Gave great insight to what life is really like in Italy
Politics
Family life
Society
Confused as to the age of the characters
Caterina’s father is very irritating


Yet style of the film being fast paced tends to create a more formalistic film