Movie: “My Voyage to Italy”

Director: Martin Scorsese 1999
This two-part documentary is like taking a master class in post-war Italian cinema, taught by someone so passionate on the subject that you want to go out immediately and rent the movies he discusses. In targeting the works of Rossellini, DeSica, Fellini, Antonioni and Visconti (see two entries below), Scorsese displays the passion and insight that characterized his own best films. He also offers long excerpts from their movies, so you get a real feel for the stories and characters. You may not always agree with Scorsese’s remarks (I remain unconvinced about Antonioni; being enigmatic does not always signal profundity), but the fact is Scorsese knows more about the movies than we do, and his opinions are grounded in his own experience, both as a kid growing up in Manhattan’s Little Italy and as one of the world’s great directors