Review of La Dolce Vita (1960) by Cinema F — 15 Nov 2011

For three hours, Director Federico Fellini depicted Rome as a modern-day Sodom or Gomorrah, stringing together fictional episodes (some allegedly based on fact) designed to expose sin and corruption among the middle and upper classes.

As a unifying device. Fellini used a newspaper gossip columnist who either observed or participated in the various events, from staging of a "miracle," in which two children fasely claimed they saw a vision of the Madonna, to an orgy in an ancient castle peopled with prostitutes, transvestites, decadent aristocrats and other sordid types.

The gifted Marcello Mastroianni portrayed the columnist -- a man who did not feel deeply, had guilt feelings because he could not, and finally realized he had become immune to emotion.

Whatever one's reservations about the philosophical profundity or lack thereof in the film, there was no denying the technical skill with which it was made. Fellini's images were rich and brilliant and edited so fluidly and diveresely that they fairly swirled across the screen, as well as Nino Rota's score, which has become a classic in its own right.