Arca1943 Review of Made in Italy

Made in Italy (1965)

One more example of Italian satire at its best : laugh and vitriol

[9/10 · 2 January 2005]

I have seen Made in Italy a long, long time ago, in my early days as a commedia all'italiana movie fan. In the tradition of Dino Risi's I Mostri, this comedy is a kaleidoscope of brief episodes loosely united in five chapters, all aimed at illustrating the life and times of those strange, exotic people : the Italians! The tonality of the film goes from outright vitriolic satire to quasi-anthropological vignettes. There are so many stars in the cast it's no use trying to count them all. As usual with a commedia all'italiana that works, comic moments abound, the feeling of reality is surprisingly strong and the actors are fabulous (don't miss Anna Magnani trying to cross a street with her smala of 10 to 12 children). As usual too, there are a couple punches that are deliberately not funny at all : a sine qua non rule of the genre. My memory being somewhat faded, I hesitate to rate it. Let's see : is it an 8, a 9 or a 10?