Film Criticism 5 "I compagni", 1963 by Mario Monicelli

yogiyamada

Active member
Messages
134
Reaction score
48
Points
28
The film is a historical fresco depicting the dire situation of textile workers in Turin during the mid-19th century. With great craftsmanship and excellent direction of actors, Monicelli achieves a consistent balance between tragedy and comedy. Through sweeping panoramas and wide shots, I compagni portrays the working class as an inexhaustible source of experiences, language, idiosyncrasies, and proletarian camaraderie. The fate of many characters unfolds along its own path within the editing, occasionally surfacing through certain human archetypes that overflow with rage, frustration, disillusionment, farce, and hints of Hegelian dialectics, barely sketched.

12UwoVR.png

B6kb4lj.png


In this film, Monicelli takes us by the hand through the human chiaroscuro found in any collective. With humor woven into tragedy, he creates a cinema devoid of the grandiosity seen in later works. Mastroianni's character transcends the role of the agitator, embodying an eccentric, disheveled activist who at times moves the audience but also becomes an allegory of the paradox faced by the collective struggling between survival and dignity. The film offers a certain hymn to hope, blending humor, grotesque elements, and drama with a deep awareness of class consciousness and the continuity of the struggle, all fueled by the profound flame of human desire.

Tráiler
 
Top