Minutes for 7/29/04                                                                                       Joey Chiu

1:15     Discussion of Respiro Begins.  We have a guest speaker, Will Davis.  He is a              Photography student.  He discusses and asks questions on the movie Respiro. 

1:20     The first questions is asked, “How does Machismo convey things in the film”.  One student responds “Songs are written in the 60’s.  Another says “How badly the men treated the women in the film.  Will discusses that how the women are constantly cleaning up after the men.  The importance of fish is mentioned.  This leads to the next question.  “One boy’s name is Cifolo, which means fish in Italian.  Is this some kind of symbolism?”

1:25     Will says that there are several representations of men shown as stripped down.  They are shown like cavemen and with the same respect to women.  There are numerous symbolisms of men’s phallus such as the sail pole and the wood pile.  The next question asked by Will was “Why was Marianna attracted to the Policeman”.  It is brought up that he isn’t from the south but from the north, so he has more respect for women.  There are language and slight cultural differences between the south and north of Italy.  Then the class goes off on a tangent and discusses that the mother is the embodiment of life and the father represents authority.  Man domination is illustrated in the film.  Will tells something that he found interesting.  The first 3 times that Marianna and the policeman are together, they are on a scooter, moving forward.  He states that he believes this represents the progressiveness of the theme.

1:30     Music is an important theme in this film.  The music in underwater scenes shows separation between the two worlds.  The same soundtrack is used in underwater scenes.  This shows the importance of water to the audience.  Will says the water around the island forms separation.  Will asks if Grazia should have been sent away after the dog incident.  The release of the dogs symbolizes being set free.  The class discusses the mistreatment of dogs in southern Italy.

1:45     Grazia has a mental illness; Bi-Polar is used as an excuse.  There are some females in power positions, the grandmother and the fish vendor.  Will asks the class, “What is the significance of the final scene.”  It is questioned whether Grazia living underwater could be real?  Will explains that there is a legend about a woman that died and went into the sea.  Her husband shows vulnerability and she suddenly comes back.  The power position is shown by shooting from the down angle.  The town morns Grazia and accepts her as a saint because he operates on a different level then other people.  Peatro and Grazia meet underwater.  The sex is neutralized in this situation.  Will asks “Why are there more legs underwater”?  He says that it illustrates a new way of walking.  The significance of the title is discussed.  Respiro translates into “I breath”.  Grazia can only find a place to breath underwater.  Respiro isn’t used in the south of Italy.

1:55     A clip of the film is shown.  Will tells us that this clip shows that Grazia is unaffected by culture, shown by the two French men.  She doesn’t know these men and they could murder her or something but she doesn’t see it this way.  The boys interrupt the scene but Grazia doesn’t speak out.  Perhaps it’s not her place to say out but the father can’t do it because its not his character.  A reference to Paris is made.  It is more civilized and the society more advanced.  The buildings in the film are half built, showing how half built their society was.

2:15     A Patty Bravo song is used in the film.  Grazia is connected to this song.  Will ends his presentation.

2:20     Professor Reimer show the film Allegro non Troppo by the director Bruno Bozzetto.  It is parody of Disney’s Fantasia.  It is a cartoon about how life began with a coke bottle.  We see a bottle thrown by the maestro and life spews from it.  It is briefly discussed that the use of the coke bottle may represent capitalism and America.

2:45     The preparation of reports is discussed.