Product Description

In this carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the Fascist period, Fellini satirizes his youth and turns daily life into a circus of rituals, sensations and emotions. Adolescent desires, male fantasies, and political repartee are set to Nina Rota's music in this beautiful transfer of Amarcord.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19289 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-04-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 123 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Federico Fellini's 1974 fantasy-memoir of life in his hometown during the Fascist era is basically the full palette of experience--sex, families, politics--with his surreal twist. As a general picture of the 1930s community carrying on rituals but with an element of government harshness in the air, the film is quite memorable (especially in scenes set around the town square). Less satisfying is Fellini's tighter focus on certain, forgettable individuals. The ironic title translates into, "I remember," but here memory is more a matter of loving vision than actuality. --Tom Keogh

DVD features
Fellini's Amarcord is a surrealistic carnival celebrating the splendor of youth. The pleasures of Amarcord lie in its visual and aural expression and Criterion's wonderful restoration presents these attributes in spades. Though a little short on extras, this RSDL, digital transfer, in its 1.85 widescreen format (letterbox) makes for an extremely satisfying experience. The audio is presented in its original Italian monoaural format with an English dubbed option. The new subtitle translation is a lot better than any past release of Amarcord, as is the English dubbing. As with most Fellini films, the Italian is dubbed, so neither the Italian nor the English are the actors' original voices. Along with Nights of Cabiria and La Dolce Vita, Amarcord is an excellent introduction to Fellini. --Rob Bracco

Customer Reviews

The magic of Fellini
Fellini's theme of coming of age memoir works as a beautiful nostalgic piece. The film resonates from an earlier film of his 8 1/2 showing the director's flashes to his seaside hometown. I've watched this film several times and on every occassion find something new. Here's a tip to enjoy watching a foreign film - Do NOT watch the English dubbed version if there is any - so much is lost in the film. Fellini's films work with subtitles because they make you forget you're reading them at all and as always, Fellini pleases both eye and ear and subsequently the heart. The musical score by Nino Rota is something one looks forward to in every scene. His music perfectly sets the tempo of each image, and I mean each and every one. What a duo of artistic genius these two men are! Watching the film on its excellent Criterion-restored DVD version, one can only wonder what the cinema world would be without Fellini.

Being Oneself:Always an Act of Creation in Amarcord
The theme of this story is the compassion that allows close-knit, small-town Italians in the 1930's to lead a meaningful existence in the context of Fascist oppression and economic hardship.
This story is culturally valuable because it shows the beauty of meaningfully existing, unchanged, amid destructive and oppressive forces. When a peacock lands in the snow with its beautiful, vibrant blue and green feathers, it exemplifies beauty, simply existing, within harsh conditions. The point of the story is not that the characters of this small Italian town make any world-altering advances, but rather that they maintain what they already have and admire--their sense of community and individual compassion--despite oppressive odds. Fellini gives his audience mischievous adolescents, oblivious teachers, a "crazy" uncle, a humorous grandfather, an idealistic and extremely feminine beauty, a generous but sickly mother and her easily-angered husband, dissatisfied workers, a story-telling lawyer, a prince, and a lying snack vendor. And none of these characters is ever treated inhumanely, or as being of any less value than any other. The uncle has an episode in which he climbs a tree and throws rocks at people who try to get him down, all the while yelling, "I want a woman!" Hours pass and the doctor who eventually comes to get him down remarks, "He has normal days, and he has not normal days...Just like us." Through the interaction of these characters, Fellini allows his audiences to encounter a town, the families, a community, and the simple life that exists within it. This film is powerful because it is saying that one does not have to defeat oppression to be worthy of being a model, seen and honored. You have only to live, to be yourself--which means to create--to be something powerful and moving.

One of Fellini's greatest films
Fellini is truly one of the greatest film makers of all time. "Masterpiece" can be used to describe so many of his films and "Amarcord" can surely fit that descriptive word. The atmosphere of his films is enhanced by Nino Rota's classic music scores. This Criterion Collection is a perfect print. The quality of this Criterion Collection is sheer perfection on every aspect. A must for every lover of great films. I definitely hope all of Fellini's films will be released on DVD.