Essay reconstructs the golden age of
Italian comedy through one of its classics

Monicelli's film is
analyzed in dissertation


MARIA ALICE DA CRUZ

"Branca, Branca, Branca, Leon, Leon, Leon" is the battle cry of the four friends who will take possession of the fiefdom of Aurocastro, under the leadership of Brancaleone, the character played by Vittorio Gassman in Mario's The Incredible Army of Brancaleone Monicelli. The film, produced at a time when commedia all'italiana reached its peak, was the subject of analysis in professor João André Brito Garboggini's master's thesis. "The proposal was to carry out an analysis of the structure of the film narrative, based on feature film from 1965", explained Garboggini. The researcher, whose thesis was supervised by professor Iara Lis and defended at the Institute of Arts, studied the film's relationship with the Italian cinematic comic genre and also in relation to the historical reconstruction to which the film is proposed.

Medieval heroes are demystified

Monicelli, according to the author of the dissertation, discovered commedia all'italiana in the 1930s, when criticism was still resistant to the naivety of the genre. But Brancaleone's Incredible Army (1965) was produced at a time when the genre reached a high level of perfection and when the works were not configured as evasion comedies. The objective was political satire, ideological contestation. In an interview with the researcher, the Italian filmmaker revealed that the frustrated story of Brancaleone's armata contains aspects of his own life. Criticism is made of leaders who invest so much in a cause and have their efforts frustrated. Brancaleone, a sort of badly dressed Don Quixote, is one of those clumsy leaders, whose army is unable to achieve its objective. "He expresses his own disillusionment with the left, at the time when he was a member of the Italian Socialist Party", explains Garboggini.

In the interview, the director admitted criticizing Mussolini and "any other clumsy army". Totalitarian leaders, fascists and generals were also subordinated to his criticism. "Laughs at himself", in his own comedy. Even the strikers had a bad time in the film Os Companheiros, from 1963, which tells the story of a strike that took place in Turin, in the 19th century. According to the professor, Monicelli's father participated in the trade union movement. "It always shows idealistic people who can never achieve their goals."

The film's writing team, made up of Mario Monicelli, Suso Cecchi Amico, Age and Scarpelli, did not aim to convey a faithful vision of the Middle Ages, but simply to indirectly refer to political and difficult moments in an Italy governed by Mussolini. . "But it ended up being more faithful to the medieval period than other films that set out to do so", guarantees the researcher, an avowed fan of chivalry films.

The heroes of the Middle Ages, recognized in other productions, are demystified through the comic reading that Monicelli did in Brancaleone's Incredible Army. Contrary to what is normally seen in scripts on medieval themes, the Italian filmmaker transformed heroes, spear duels, luxurious courts and ladies into hunger, the poor, the ignorant, ferocity, misery, hunger, rain and cold.

Between the lyrical, the drama and the irony, Monicelli achieved his own style. The ironic tone given to the characters' dramatic situations marked the language of the filmmaker's films. Analysis of the director's other titles led the researcher to the conclusion that he was very interested in expressing the difficulty of the fight for survival, which, despite often leading to laughter, managed to awaken people's critical consciousness. "It's a laugh that softens the reality of the drama. It shows people from lower classes, but gives the scenes an ironic, sarcastic comedy." For Garboggini, the director looked for a way to create drama with a touch of humor.

Parent is a Serpent, another film by Monicelli, characterizes this style well, as the author shows the relationship between parents and children and, at the end of the film, the children blow up their parents' house to kill them. The narrative of this film is developed in a comical way, which causes laughter, however, at the end of the film, laughter is provoked as an embarrassment of an unpleasant situation. "That's the strange laugh I'm talking about."

Some productions from the decade disappeared over time. According to the professor, Italian filmography doesn't even compare with the glamor of the 1960s. But Monicelli achieved a different projection, which turned the century and followed trends in the history of cinematography. He produces on a smaller scale, but continues working. Brancaleone was released on DVD two years ago.

Consecration - Mario Monicelli is one of the masters and, above all, one of the survivors of Italian cinema, which, between 1975 and 1976, began to dissolve. At 84 years old, with a filmography of more than 50 titles, he is a strong name in the film industry. "In addition to being highly sought after, it can now be considered a heritage in the history of Italian cinema", informs professor João André Garboggini. In 2003, he was invited to preside over the jury at the 60th Venice Film Festival, where he was awarded the 1959 film The Great War.

Currently, the creator is dedicated to producing documentaries. In one of them, he criticizes globalization. Among the latest works is a second documentary about the Genoa Economic Forum. In the itinerary, a street demonstration against the event.

Graduated in performing arts from Unicamp and in Advertising from PUC-Campinas, Garboggini is a professor of aesthetics and advertising and teaches audiovisual subjects at PUC-Campinas.