Italian through Film: A Text for Italian Courses (review)

Italian through Film: A Text for Italian Courses is advertised as a 'supplementary text for elementary to intermediate courses' that can be used at the high school, college (university) or adult education levels. It presents contemporary (1988-2001) films with brief introductions and previewing, viewing, and post-viewing activities. Ten films are included: two by Roberto Benigni (Johnny Stecchino and La vita è bella), two by Nanni Moretti (Caro Diario and La stanza del figlio), and single entries by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), Pupi Avati (Storie de ragazzi e ragazze), Gabriele Salvatores (Mediterraneo), Gianni Amelio (Lamerica), Michael Radford (Il postino), and Silvio Soldini (Pane e tulipani). This is an eclectic selection, ranging from the madcap slapstick of Johnny Stecchino to the whimsical nostalgia of Cinema Paradiso to the pathos of La vita è bella to the unsentimental yet compassionate realism of La stanza del figlio.

Each film is introduced with brief paragraphs in Italian dealing with the director, the plot, and cultural notes. The first two are informative and useful, but it is the cultural notes that are especially interesting, providing snippets of information about Italian life and society: the importance of the movie theatre in 1950s small-towns (Cinema Paradiso); life under Mussolini (La vita è bella); Albanian immigrants' views of Italy (Lamerica); and so on. These notes are simple enough to be accessible even to first-year students with assistance from a dictionary and instructor.

The previewing activities include general questions leading into the themes of the film, such as the Mafia for Johnny Stecchino, marriage ceremonies for Storie di ragazzi et ragazze, and the postal system (logically) for Il postino. This is followed by a vocabulary list of theme-related words and expressions with English glosses. The authors do not shy away from including colloquialisms and even 'vulgar' expressions in this section. For Mediterraneo, there is a whole series of expressions taken from the film based on cazzo, culo, and coglioni; for example, Non me ne frega un cazzo - 'I don't give a damn,' Vaffanculo - 'Go to hell' and Mi girano i coglioni - 'I'm really mad/upset' (note that the translations provided by the authors are somewhat euphemistic). These are exactly the types of expressions that students, especially at the high school level, are most eager to learn, and the authors are to be commended for including them. Vocabulary practice is provided through exercises of the multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks variety.

A wide selection of viewing and post-viewing activities is provided, so teachers and students can choose those that are appropriate in terms of interest and level of difficulty. For instance, beginners might simply complete a true/false comprehension exercise, while more advanced students can respond to the 'spunti' for oral discussions and written responses. There are even topics for essays and longer oral presentations for very advanced and ambitious students. Internet-based activities are always suggested as a way of expanding on themes from the films and to stimulate students to explore Italian Web sites.

In the introduction ('Tips for Course Use'), the authors provide sample generic lesson outlines for a five- or three-day study of a film. Every chapter concludes with an 'Aspetto grammaticale' that focuses on an element of language that is used in the movie. In keeping with Benigni's fondness for exaggeration, for example, the grammar point for Johnny Stecchino deals with superlatives (as well as comparatives). This section is quite autonomous, however, and does not need to be used in conjunction with the film that it accompanies.

Each chapter begins with a full-page, black-and-white illustration, usually a poster or video box of the movie. It would be wonderful to have more photographs, but the usual financial constraints of educational publications are undoubtedly in play.

The authors' claim that the films chosen for this book 'are commonly found in school and university video libraries and can easily be rented from a...