IL MIO VIAGGIO IN ITALIA (Martin Scorsese, 2001) R

Reviewed: June 2, 2002

Martin Scorsese's four hour long documentary Il Mio viaggio in Italia (My Voyage to Italy) is a great, unique bird-- save a powerful beginning in which Scorsese discusses his own family history while showing photographs and home movies, docu is essentially just extended clips from classic Italian films (honing in on the neo-realist period) with ongoing, frequent Scorsese voice-over. Most of the strength of the film lies in its continual emphasis on the very personal nature of everything we're being shown. From the first frame forward, Scorsese makes it clear his Italian roots are what turned him on to all of these seminal Italian films in the first place... well that, and the fact that his family was one of the only families in his Little Italy neighborhood who owned a television.

Scorsese is an ideal narrator-- enthusiastic, patient, simple, emotional, awestruck, passionate, humble. My Voyage to Italy is like a master class run by Scorsese, and of course, no one can ask for a better teacher. The four hour running time is definitely manageable and the docu is rarely slow, though the excitement level does vary depending on how interested you are in whatever film Scorsese is discussing at the given moment. Voyage is also helped tremendously by an intermission at the close of the first two hours. When you sit back down you should feel refreshed and more than ready to tackle the second half (which moved quicker than the first for me). My only complaint is I wish Scorsese had cut short some of the individual film discussions to make way for the inclusion of a larger quantity of films. He takes us through most of the movies plot point by plot point so it practically feels like we've seen the entire film by the time the segments end (hence beware of heavy heavy heavy spoilers on every film that's discussed; these films include, but are not limited to Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero, Voyage to Italy, Shoeshine, The Bicycle Thief, Europa '51, Umberto D, L'Avventura, La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2).

My Voyage to Italy closes with Scorsese directly addressing the camera. He tells us that the main reason he made this documentary is to turn young cinema lovers on to these wonderful, important films they might not have otherwise known to seek out (and he's right-- I think regardless of age or how film literate you are there are gonna be at least a few films in the mix you didn't know about previous, or at least a few you haven't seen). Scorsese believes that as soon as people hear the words cinema history, it seems like a chore, like homework. Scorsese believes it's word of mouth which ultimately matters, your friend or someone you trust personally telling you something's great being the major impetus to see certain films. But Scorsese wants us to know that no one taught him about these films, he didn't learn about this history in school. He discovered them on his own, he cares about them all very deeply and as a fellow movie lover to another movie lover, he is begging us to seek them out. After you've spent the four hours in his company, you'll most definitely wanna heed his plea.

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