The Garden of the Finzi-Continis: Vittorio de Sica

Vittorio de Sica's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is a film of remarkable power and restraint painted in vivid pastel colors that seem to evoke an aesthetic ideal instead of a time period. Considering that it's about Italian Jews right before the Holocaust, de Sica should be praised for making a film that doesn't fall into the usual emotional pit-falls common to such themes. It is a film about love and loss with the persecution of Jews as an impetus, but not the main focus. Instead, it focuses on Giorgio, a middle class Jew who falls in love with Micol Finzi-Contini. The Finzi-Contini are one of the wealthiest Jewish families in the area. But they live in a kind of self-imposed exile behind a massive wall that surrounds their property. Existing in a removed, aloof state, the Finzi-Contini (and Micol by extension) are completely removed from the harsh reality of late 1930s Italy. The Finzi-Contini only realize that they are in trouble when the Nazis literally knock at their door. There is a melancholy warmth to The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Of course, it ends as honest films about the Holocaust must inevitably end. But my own personal experience with this film left me with a greater impression of the relationship between Giorgio and Micol. It is rich with the obliviousness of new love, echoed by the Finzi-Contini family's inability to confront the outside world. This is a film of metaphor and subtleties during one of the most tumultuous moments in world history. Quite impressive, don't you think?

8/10