Picture a curvy and enticing middle age Italian woman inviting your hands to rome freely, it’s a fifteen year old boy's dream come true.If Federico Fellini’s childhood was anything close to his film Amarcord, in my book, he was lucky kid. Not just for the character Grandisca, the curvy Italian beauty, but for the unique experiences. However, in terms of memory my brother recently told me: we tend to forget the bad things. In Amarcord, Fellini’s coined term which translates, I remember, he rehashes the joy being young and the pain stemming from our unforgiving world. Many say the film is autobiographical. However, Fellini contends he’s created a world, dreamlike and artificial. Though, his childhood friend appears in the film, I also believe Amarcord deals with the memory and they way we’ve imagined our past. Oddly—maybe a bad word choice—I remember my kindergarten teacher, bending before me, revealing her breast coated with freckles. Most women neal down, back perpendicular to the ground, or cover their cleavage. But this woman, who noticed me looking, didn’t cover anything and I remember fighting with my eyes, slowly losing the battle--if you wondering why I'm rehashing this story see the film. Why these memories stay with us is one thing, but the way we recall our crazy childhood or any time period, in my opinion, is the psychological equivalent to the bodies use of endorphins. We heal the pain of memory with a veneer. The lie is good. I love filmmakers who aren’t afraid to ascend into their closet of skeletons. These types of films offer a challenge. With my hand covering my nose and mouth, I open a door to my past daily. An event sticking out in my mind is my grandmother’s funeral—I was five years old. I hate my self for saying it, but I looked at my mother and said: It wasn’t so sad mom. I didn’t cry. I would love to go back and smack myself, for being young and stupid. Yes. My silly mouth would get me into trouble, especially with women, for years. Which is why, my watching of Fellini's exaggerated yet objective tales of Fascism, and the confrontation with family members, for me, was inspiring. For an introduction into Fellini's world, where his characters seem like metaphors, you should read his essay Mi Rimini. The stories in the essay are told in the same episodic fashion as Amarcord,however with out question the essay is an example of an idea on paper materializing on screen. As a aspiring Filmmaker, the film Amarcord, in terms of honesty and innocence, is the direction I hope to take some day. Lately, I've been opening the can of worms that is my childhood. : ) So far it's been pleasant, the 1990's were fun and I was very silly boy then, it's my college years that scare me.
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