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Novecento/1900: Reflection and Nostalgia When asked what idea had brought him from Last Tango in Paris to 1900 Bertolucci replied that he had worked on the screenplay of 1900 with Franco Arcalli and his brother Giuseppe before Tango, but he had to put the project aside because he was not able to finance it; however this opportunity materialized after Tango's, success (Georgakas-Rubenstein 1984: 139). Bertolucci recounts that he intended to make a sort of 'film-ponte / a bridge-movie' connecting Hollywood and Soviet cinema; he confessed that the film was the result of a period in which he had become a megalomaniac, as a consequence of finding himself in the position of being able to do anything he wanted. On this subject he remembers how, in presenting Vittorio Storaro to Francis Ford Coppola for the shooting of Apocalypse Now, the American had commented: "I will make a film one minute longer than yours" (which he did not) (Mirabella-Pitiot 1991: 46-47). Ambitious is certainly an applicable term for Bertolucci's intention to introduce the tenets of Communist ideology across the USA with a single film (Georgakas-Rubenstein 1984: 143). In fact, any historical reconstruction of the 1900 distribution saga revolves around these two issues: the film's length and its theme. Regarding the first question, there is a key point that is little known: the Italian producer Alberto Grimaldi was aware of the filnf s length, and the idea of dividing it into two parts was his (Ungari 1982: 129); therefore it is unclear what information had been exchanged between Italy and the USA during the making and editing of the film. Regarding the film's theme, Bertolucci indicates that the American distributors invested in the film 'in blind faith' based on the figures generated by Tango, that they saw it for the first time only at the Cannes Film Festival, and that they were 'rather upset; it was really scandalous for them, all that unexpected waving of red flags'(Georgakas-Rubenstein 1984: 141). hi the light of this, Kolker's suggestion of 'naivete' on Bertolucci's part during the whole situation (Kolker 202
1985: 73) should be contextualized by the consideration that an exceptional degree of misinterpretation had occurred between the parties. Nevertheless, this study is mainly interested in Bertolucci's declaration that he worked in his own way 'in the folds of this system's contradictions' (Georgakas-Rubenstein 1984: 141) and that he intentionally used the lever of emotions to convey to a public unfamiliar with Italian history the struggle of the Italian working class (Georgakas- Rubenstein 1984: 143). These assertions are important because they underpin this chapter's examination of how intellectual stratification and emotional intention run in parallel within 1900. The film's first intellectual reference, addressing mainly Italian viewers, is made as the opening credits are superimposed on the famous tableau Quarto Stato (The Fourth Estate) by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo (1868-1970). hi Italy the painting is an icon of class struggle, because it had been used by the Communist Party for a long time as a logo. Therefore the association of the tableau with the film functions as an immediate indication of the film's political orientation and remit; but it also points to the director's artistic intention to depict the historical period of the twentieth century as a lyrical fresco. Intended to celebrate the resolve of rural workers as a social class, the painting depicts a crowd of peasants advancing with intent, the group being led by three people; two men and a woman carrying a baby, whom the viewers will subsequently relate to the characters of Leo Dalco, Olmo and Anita. Plot summary The film opens with a gun battle between partisans and Fascists in a rural landscape, and the caption '25 aprile 1945' situates it in the closing months of the war. There is a cut to inside a manor house to show Alfredo Berlinghieri being captured by Olmo's son Leonida; this sequence is a framing mechanism for the rest of the film, which is an extended flashback of past events starting from the day on which Alfredo - the landowner's son - and Olmo - the 203
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- Page 223 and 224: References Bachmann, G. (1973) 'Eve
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Novecento/1900: Reflection and Nostalgia<br />
When asked what idea had brought him from Last Tango in Paris to 1900 Bertolucci replied<br />
that he had worked on the screenplay <strong>of</strong> 1900 with Franco Arcalli and his brother Giuseppe<br />
before Tango, but he had to put the project aside because he was not able to finance it;<br />
however this opportunity materialized after Tango's, success (Georgakas-Rubenstein 1984:<br />
139). Bertolucci recounts that he intended to make a sort <strong>of</strong> 'film-ponte / a bridge-movie'<br />
connecting Hollywood and Soviet cinema; he confessed that the film was the result <strong>of</strong> a<br />
period in which he had become a megalomaniac, as a consequence <strong>of</strong> finding himself in the<br />
position <strong>of</strong> being able to do anything he wanted. On this subject he remembers how, in<br />
presenting Vittorio Storaro to Francis Ford Coppola for the shooting <strong>of</strong> Apocalypse Now, the<br />
American had commented: "I will make a film one minute longer than yours" (which he did<br />
not) (Mirabella-Pitiot 1991: 46-47). Ambitious is certainly an applicable term for Bertolucci's<br />
intention to introduce the tenets <strong>of</strong> Communist ideology across the USA with a single film<br />
(Georgakas-Rubenstein 1984: 143). In fact, any historical reconstruction <strong>of</strong> the 1900<br />
distribution saga revolves around these two issues: the film's length and its theme. Regarding<br />
the first question, there is a key point that is little known: the Italian producer Alberto<br />
Grimaldi was aware <strong>of</strong> the filnf s length, and the idea <strong>of</strong> dividing it into two parts was his<br />
(Ungari 1982: 129); therefore it is unclear what information had been exchanged between<br />
Italy and the USA during the making and editing <strong>of</strong> the film. Regarding the film's theme,<br />
Bertolucci indicates that the American distributors invested in the film 'in blind faith' based<br />
on the figures generated by Tango, that they saw it for the first time only at the Cannes Film<br />
Festival, and that they were 'rather upset; it was really scandalous for them, all that<br />
unexpected waving <strong>of</strong> red flags'(Georgakas-Rubenstein 1984: 141). hi the light <strong>of</strong> this,<br />
Kolker's suggestion <strong>of</strong> 'naivete' on Bertolucci's part during the whole situation (Kolker<br />
202
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