LIGABUE

Italy, 1978, 126 minutes, Colour.
Flavio Bucci, Andrea Ferreol, Pamela Villoresi.
Directed by Salvatore Nocita.

Ligabue was made by Italian Radio and Television. It is an excellent feature documentary. The RAI has been responsible for such films as the Taviani Brothers' Padre Padrone. The film is based on a verse biography of the artist Ligabue by Cesare Zavattini. Zavattini was for many years the writer-collaborator with Vittorio de Sica from such films as Shoeshine and Bicycle thieves to The Voyage and A Brief Vacation.

The film is interesting in its presentation of the biography of a very strange man. It also communicates his tormented life, his background, his being placed in the social setting of Italy in the first part of the 20th century as well as exploring and communicating his creative experience. He moves from an eccentric and madman to an established artist who was feted by society. The film ends with his death and the tribute to him. The compelling performance of the leading actor communicates most vigorously the personality of the artist. The film is a fine memorial and tribute to Ligabue.

1. The appeal of this film ? the life of an artist, art, an Italian film?

2. The production values? RAI and the presentation of the biography of an Italian artist for the wide Italian audience? For a universal audience? The communication of art, artistry? The quality of the recreation of period? The strength of the writing, the delineation of characters? The background of history and people coping with historical situations? The communication of a creative experience, an artist at work? Colour, the score?

3. The presentation of so many paintings during the credits? The introduction to the work of the artist and the invitation to understand him? How well did the paintings convey Libague's experience, his view of life, people, nature? The importance of the animals in his paintings and his experiencing their animality? The genius of Ligabue, the way that he painted his canvases, his skill and lack of training? The exhibitions and his gradual status as a great artist?

4. What is creative genius? Ligabue's innate gifts, his natural skills, how these influence his experience and their translation into works of art, the importance of opportunities for creative work? Could Ligabue's creative genius have been stifled and not expressed itself? Would he have found an opportunity to create no matter where he was?

5. The introduction to him? his appearance, stature, mental illness? The train ride, his arrival with the soldiers? The background of Switzerland and the explanation of his family, his period in the asylum, his being deported? How sympathetic a character, victim? The pathos of his presence?

6. The pathos of his arrival, the town, being put in the home for the aged, his reaction about his father, his encounter with the nun, his escape from the home and the prospects for his survival, his running away?

7. His staying in the woods, his begging shelter and the kindness of the family taking him in, the eeriness of his howling in the night? The decisions to let him stay, his work and his earnest participation in it? The mocking of his companions and yet their friendliness? Cacchi as his friend for life? The incident with modelling the lion? The dung in his meal and his horrified reaction and running away? People persecuting him and yet not wanting to be malicious?

8. The transition of the seven years and his living wildly in the woods, contact with people? The emphasis on his madness and wildness, living his own life? How well did the actor communicate this by gesture, eye movement, manner of speaking etc.? The importance of the painting of the leopard and the illustration of how he felt the life of the animal, as he did previously with the lion? The various friends that he had in the town, the fact that he was liked and people wanted to support him?

9. The nature of his madness? The fact that he could say that there were two minds in him and that he could not control himself? His wildness, his suspicious nature? His attitude towards women? especially as illustrated in his watching the women washing, the women who were afraid, the women who were tender towards him and yet retreated? The little girl when the children watched through the window? The encountering of the mother at the cemetery and his frightening her, the love for Cesarina and her tenderness and yet her final rejection? flow painful was this for him in terms of his inability to relate, of intimacy?

10. The increase in his work, the opportunities to express himself as an artist, his living in the shed, his bartering his paintings for goods? The friends especially the artist friend with his support?

11. The experiences in the asylum and the build-up of his fears?

12. The importance in the film of the changing of the decades and the way that this was illustrated? the look of the town, its way of life, the visit of Mussolini, the arrival of the Germans, the experience of the war? The importance of Ligabue doing translation work, seeming to side with the Germans and proud of it, fighting because of their treatment of his painting?

13. The growing skill with his painting and his vision? People interested, wanting to manage him? The competitions? His continuing to barter and gain things for example the bike? His winning the competition and his declaration that he should have? The nature of his genius?

14. The encounter with Cesarina and her tenderness. her rejection? Her mother? The pathos of their looking through the keyhole and his dressing in women's clothing? What did this say about his capacity for relationships, his needs?

15. The exhibitions, his success, the fashionable talk about him and his themes and the reality of his presence and his life?

16. His final illness, Cacchi and his presence and the continued support that he had given him through his life? His death? The funeral and the civic honours and the technique of showing so many people there and the voicing of such a variety of thoughts about him?

17. How important was the actor's interpretation of Ligabue in communicating the person and the genius and the pain to the audience? The range of supporting characters and the tone of life of an Italian town? The families, the friends. the people at work, the people in the cafes? Their friendship and the nicknames given him? the German and the use of his personal name? An engaging person? A difficult person to interpret because of his madness?

18. The film as a tribute, as a memory, as a communication of creative genius?