The two main objectives of this course are to provide students with the intellectual,
cultural, and historical background needed to understand the movies they will study
in this course; and to train students to analyze critically these movies so that they
can interpret the subtle nuances of meaning encoded by the directors.  The course
includes a historical background on Fascism, World War II, the impact of the war on
civilian lives, and the post war era.  Students also study the various cinematic
genres and movements in Italy, beginning with neorealism.  When students critically
analyze the movies they study in class, they are expected to engage in a close
reading of the cinematic text, and show how each director uses basic cinematic
techniques, especially montage, to articulate the messages she/he wishes to convey to
the viewer.  In other words, students are not supposed to critique the film of the
director, since they may be imposing their own cultural values on a work and an
artist whose culture is quite different from that of the student; instead the student
is supposed to shed light on the movie's meaning, and acquire a greater appreciation
of a cinema which is quite different from Hollywood cinema.  A student's ability to
analyze each movie is determined by the quiz they take after seeing each movie and by
their participation in classroom discussions on those movies.  Students are also
required to write a 3000 word term paper in which they analyze one or more Italian
movies based on the methods of analysis used and studied in class.  There is also a
two-part final exam: in part I the student must analyze a clip from an Italian movie,
and in part II the student must choose from a list of essay topics and discuss the
topic in relation to three Italian movies.

Depending on who would teach this course, the actual movies to be studied may vary. 
Several of the following movies are likely to be included:  Rossellini's "Rome: Open
City", Visconti's "La terra trema", and one of his historical movies (The "Leopard", 
"Ludwig", etc.), Fellini's "La dolce vita", "Eight & a Half", and one of his later
movies, De Sica's "Bicycle Thief" and "Umberto D", Antonioni's "Blow-up" and another
one of his movies, and Bertolucci's "Conformist".  Other directors whose works may 
be discussed include Wertmuller, Pasolini, Olmi, Germi, and the Taviani brothers. 
Students will study and analyze these movies according to the criteria stated in the
course objectives.  Students are required to read the screen plays of these movies,
whenever they are available, as well as important critical texts written by cinema
scholars on these movies.

UGA's most recent Academic Honesty Policy will apply to this course and will be
mentioned in the syllabus.