Historical/reality-based films

“The single most powerful obstacle to the historical use of film has been the historian’s view that, compared with the masses of other documentary evidence available, film was especially unreliable as evidence. It is edited and can easily be faked; after all the cinema is the creation of illusion.”  A discussion, using the film Jodhaa Akbar.

When cherry-picking a topic for academic purpose, one often himself impaled upon the horns of a dilemma. What we do in reality in the process of production, we skim through and eliminate topics of what we consider inappropriate for the “market” and without intent to participate in its dynamics. In fact, I imposed on myself, as if a professional obligation, to do a thorough research on Italian cinepanettoni during this period.
I find the work  of Adam O'Leary from Leeds University extremely fascinating and see it as a valuable tool in aiding better understanding of Italian films today and such as the aesthetics of certain movies.
A little more to continue this discussion related to the pedagogy of the image which attracted much of my attention during my early years in Rome (2009-2012) and the period of my study in Paris (January to June 2013). Scanning the popular cinema in reality it is almost an anthropological study of that society. In fact, it is safe to assume that by analyzing a phenomenon film enjoyed by millions of national audience, you could define, analyze and knock hypothesis, statistics, and characteristics of that audience, to know, to learn and to understand it.
And now, having to work on this essay on film criticism, I could definitely take advantage of all the amount of films they have seen, read articles, research done, I'll taste the other hand groped my personal taste and I decided to work on the film Reality by Italian director Garrone. Not that slight cinepanettoni,, now after so much effort, I learned to appreciate for being so unintentionally document of my country, but I chose the last film of the author of Gomorrah, because in a sense I consider him the equal of those Christmas movies, a kind of document key authorial, and therefore neither trope far nor too close to the cinepanettoni. No doubt that Garrone's film belongs to another hemisphere. However, as those blockbusters, speaks of Italy, without having the real interest nor to do so, talk about stories and if possible more or less with the comedies of Boldi and De Sica is a tendency to laugh (or at least that is the intention of the writers), unlike Gomorrah's director which may make you cry.

The relationship between cinema and reality can be examined in three subgroups. These are 'the movies that claim that the events and main characters in the movie were real', 'films deal with stories attached to reality' and 'films unpretentious about being real'. As an interesting fact, , Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 film "Troy" doesn't fit in any of these three options! It's because "Troy", which is based on one of the 'mythological' stories that reveal that they are not real with the surreal elements they contain, was presented to the audience in the Classic Epic format, purified from the gods, miracles and extraordinary powers, as an exceptional case. The main element that arouses curiosity in the audience of Epic Films is the reality of the events and characters shown in these movies. However, "how many movie protagonists were for real? The reason for this confusing argument is that historical movies being more associated with reality by the audience than movies set today. In Epic Films, the expectation about reality is whether the visual elements such as decor, costume, and production design fit the era they convey, as well as fidelity to the text.

As a practitioner, I am interested in using moving image poetically to express metaphysical truths about women's experiences, both contemporary and throughout history. My work encompasses experimental narrative film and video installation. I loosely weave filmic tropes together to create a latticework of 'gaps' into which a viewer contributes their own frame of reference in an imaginary dialogue with the work. The resonance of the work is thus extended to reveal 'the '3 rd meaning' i.e. new meaning created when 2 or more elements are juxtaposed. This paper investigates the nature and creation of this 'third meaning' by the juxtaposition of poetic elements in moving image art and film, including case studies of the author's own work. The paper explores whether the medium of moving image can behave in the same way that poetry or music does in directly accessing emotional responses in the viewer, providing a gateway to the imagination. Can film be a truly 'immersive' medium? What implications does this have for the position of women as 'makers' rather than 'bearers' of meaning (Mulvey, 1973); The impact of new technologies on artistic filmmaking is also considered.

Toista Kiinan-Japanin sotaa käsittelevien filmatisointien fokukseksi on muodostunut erityisesti Nankingin verilöyly, sillä sen tapahtumiin tiivistyy japanilaisjoukkojen miehittämillään alueilla harjoittama järjestelmällinen paikallisväestön terrorisointi. Analysoinkin artikkelissani seuraavia juuri kyseistä verilöylyä representoivia, laajan kansainvälisen levityksen saaneita elokuvia: Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre (1995), Nanjingin verilöyly (2009) ja John Rabe (2009). Tutkimuskysymykseni kiertyvät etenkin puolueettoman kerronnan problematiikan ympärille.