Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a tale of love and anarchism, Libera, Amore Mio:
And next week’s film, Il Sospetto:
Reviews of Libera, Amore Mio:
Letterboxd says:
Claudia Cardinale, our Tunisian anarchist non-hierarchical icon!!
simply one of the best films about anarchism and particularly Italixn anarchism i’ve ever seen. both the essential role Italixn anarchists played in liberating Italy from the fascists and maybe most fascinatingly the problems of state governance when fascism falls. the re-integration of the fascists into Italy’s government which happened in all of Europe, Japan, South America, the US…pretty much everywhere, is broached at the very moment most films would present a resolution.Bolognini mixes naturalist reportage and assymetrical framings during scenes of extreme state violence and uses a, i don’t know how else to say this, but quintessentially Italixn 70’s camera. the use of top-down angles in particularly is both marvelously used to connote character perspective and architecture. one could say how Bolognini films the brutalist architecture of italy and its kind of gray mazes against Cardinale’s iconic red dress is an even more rich visual criticism of the all-consuming absorptive nature of state projects, even the post-war beneficence espoused by Italy’s socialist-y housing. which as that final scene so starkly, was still being run by fascist collaborators. what does it mean that the state’s supposed beneficence operates under such ideological inclusion?
there are genuinely incredibly important questions and points confronted in this film from what do you do with defeated fascists? to why democracy is not actually liberatory and how it differs from anarchist formations. all of these questions are confronted with thoughtful almost Zurluni-esque (sometimes his and Bolognini’s melancholy feel similar or related to me) emotional registers all be it structured a bit differently than Zurluni would set up such relations.
and
One of the most traditional, classiest tour-de-forces Cardinale played: a fierce woman in a generation-spanning epic, tackling the challenges of politics in Italy in the first half of the 20th century. Also one of Bolognini’s finest, fully committing to the political commentary, and adjusting his film accordingly, from a lighter start to a very dramatic finish and both halves feel Italian through and through. With a slightly less clunky editing, this could’ve been an all-timer!
My take:
A compelling tale about a life in radical politics. Cardinale is perfect, stunning to look at and exuding intelligence and passion. The director weaves light humor with dire situations in a way that reflects real life. The movie is a lesson in anarchist thinking as well. A great film but just once for me: ⭐.
Director: Mauro Bolognini
Writers: Nicola Badalucco, Mauro Bolognini, Luciano Vincenzoni
Plot (Spoilers!):
Libera is a young Italian anarchist. As a child, she witnessed her father being brutalized and arrested by the police. This left an indelible mark on her.
She cannot keep quiet, in a time when women were expected to. She challenges the rising Fascist powers in the country. This earns her their ire.
Moving from town to town to escape persecution makes for a rough life. Her husband is at his wits end. A local Fascist power is making things even harder by raiding her home.
She remains a proud and committed anarchist throughout. She lives to see the collapse of the Fascist movement in Italy. But the fates are against her. At the film’s end, she is murdered by a renegade Fascist sniper.
***
Bonuses:
Fats Waller: Ain’t Misbehavin’ 1930s 1940s Jazz (Past Perfect)
1. 00:00:00 Fats Waller Everybody Loves My Baby
2. 00:03:00 Fats Waller Cheatin’ On Me
3. 00:06:16 Fats Waller It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie
4. 00:09:14 Fats Waller When Somebody Thinks You’re Wonderful
5. 00:12:57 Fats Waller You’re Gonna Be Sorry
6. 00:16:30 Fats Waller Yacht Club Swing
7. 00:19:36 Fats Waller The Sheik Of Araby
8. 00:22:26 Fats Waller Twenty-Four Robbers
9. 00:25:15 Fats Waller Come Down To Earth, My Angel
10. 00:28:29 Fats Waller Carolina Shout
11. 00:30:51 Fats Waller Smoke Dreams Of You
12. 00:33:51 Fats Waller I Wish I Were Twins
13. 00:36:36 Fats Waller Got A Bran’ New Suit
14. 00:39:12 Fats Waller Stop Pretending
15. 00:42:24 Fats Waller Clarinet Marmalade
16. 00:45:10 Fats Waller Don’t Let It Bother You
17. 00:48:06 Fats Waller Blue, Turning Grey, Over You
18. 00:52:34 Fats Waller African Ripples
19. 00:55:47 Fats Waller My Very Good Friend The Milkman
20. 00:59:22 Fats Waller The Curse Of An Aching Heart
21. 01:01:55 Fats Waller Shortnin’ Bread
22. 01:04:41 Fats Waller The Jitterbug Waltz
23. 01:08:06 Fats Waller Your Feet’s Too Big
24. 01:11:15 Fats Waller Old Grand Dad
25. 01:14:05 Fats Waller Ain’t Misbehavin’ (band)
https://youtu.be/4qQVcjXopZo?si=Rp1be6z004QHz1id
The Sex Pistols – Live at Winterland (1/14/1978) | The Final Concert
The Sex Pistols – Live at Winterland (1/14/1978) | The Final Concert | Official Full Performance
This is it. The end of the line. Watch the full, complete performance by The Sex Pistols recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, CA, on January 14, 1978. This infamous concert was the final show of their ill-fated US tour and would prove to be the band’s final performance with Sid Vicious before they imploded days later.
This set captures the raw, chaotic, and volatile energy that defined the original punk explosion. In front of 5,000 curious fans, The Sex Pistols deliver a performance loaded with the tension, apathy, and aggression that made them the most controversial band in the world. This footage is the definitive document of punk rock history meeting its end.
Setlist:
0:00:00 – God Save The Queen
0:04:13 – I Wanna Be Me
0:08:19 – I’m A Lazy Sod
0:10:42 – New York
0:14:25 – EMI
0:18:09 – Belsen Was A Gas
0:20:22 – Bodies
0:25:15 – Holidays In The Sun
0:29:19 – Liar
0:34:15 – No Feelings
0:37:18 – Problems
0:41:56 – Pretty Vacant
0:45:14 – Anarchy In The UK
0:49:00 – No Fun
The Classic (and Final) Lineup:
🎤 Johnny Rotten (John Lydon): Lead Vocals
🎸 Steve Jones: Guitar, Backing Vocals
🎸 Sid Vicious: Bass Guitar
🥁 Paul Cook: Drums
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead (1986) (Full Album)
Credit: The Smiths
Label: Warner Records
0:00 01. The Queen Is Dead
6:26 02. Frankly, Mr. Shankly
8:45 03. I Know It’s Over
14:33 04. Never Had No One Ever
18:10 05. Cemetery Gates
20:51 06. Bigmouth Strikes Again
24:07 07. The Boy With the Thorn in His Side
27:26 08. Vicar in a Tutu
29:48 09. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
33:52 10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Ask
Zeno, Infinite Divisibility, & Indivisibility
This is a clip of Richard Sorabji discussing whether space is infinitely divisible or instead is made up of indivisible units. He considers some of the problems with each view, including one of the famous paradoxes from Zeno of Elea. This comes from a talk which Richard Sorabji gave back in 2003 at Gresham College on whether space is finite.
00:00 Infinite Divisibility
08:14 Atoms of Space
Revising Logic – Graham Priest
A re-upload of a talk which was given by Graham Priest on revising logic at a conference on paradox and logical revision at the University of Munich back in 2012.
Ernest Nagel on Computers, Logic, & Mind (1962)
A few clips of Dr. Ernest Nagel in an interview discussing things in relation to logic, computers, minds and machines.
Sabin Balasa -The Galaxy (1973)
Sabin Balasa -The Galaxy (1973) painting animation
http://www.sabinbalasa.com
Sabin Balasa – The Phoenix Bird (1968)