The Grand Old Man of Italian cinema appeared as a man from another world: weak, seldom smiling, bewildered.
He showed up at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI ‘94) in Kolkata, the megacity of Bengali culture in India.
I saw him at close quarters and even shook hands with him, but he wouldn’t utter a word.
White hair, broad forehead, sharp nose - he looked a classical Roman. It was his age. He was indifferent to everything around him.
I wondered whether he was frightened of the enthusiastic crow that surrounded him and taken aback by the babble of voices around him - a cacophony of sounds, from the different tongues in the Indian subcontinent.
And English he pretended not to know. It was his youngish wife who spoke on his behalf in English.
This Italian filmmaker is reputed to be one of the best Film Directors in the world.
Serious cinemagoers look at his films with awe and respect and he has withstood his reputation.
He started making films in the 1950s and stopped directing in 1982. Over 22 years of experience.
Historians of European Cinema say that he belongs to the neo-realist tradition (a good example: Vittorio de Sica’s of ‘Bicycle Thief’ fame.
As opposed to narrative construction his films are revelations of human characters in dilemma and depict their relationships.
One of his best films I enjoyed was The Red Dessert. It is a creative work, which students of European cinema would like to dissect, analyse and interpret in terms of their own vision and understanding.
It is a two-hour film of technical virtuosity, although the watered-down story when seen after many decades of its making.
The film features Antonioni’s favourite actress, the sultry, enigmatic and sensitive Monica Vitti.
It is a story of a woman, who is in search of her identity, even though she is mentally ill.
Antonioni’s The Eclipse depicts the search of a woman for her place in the sun.
Monica Viti along with Alain Delon (handsome French star of a few decades ago) brings in a kind of indescribable relationship.
The meticulous craftsman he is, Antonioni brings with him the European tradition in spinning stories. And on the celluloid a marvellous experience.
‘Blow-Up’ and ‘Zabrekxi Point’ are Michaelangelo’s other films of critical importance.
His films are excellent study-pieces to understand the grammar of cinema of the past.