Directed by Martin Scorsese
Hosted by Martin Scorsese
Genre: Documentary
Country: Italy / UK
Runtime: 246 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some images of violence and sexuality

Evaluation: 10/10
by Greg Ferguson









As my inaugural film review for this column, for which I plan to delve into my past to retrieve for you those films which I believe are worthy of your consideration, I’ve decided to harken back in time to a favourite director of mine’s personal and nostalgic look back at cinema history. Martin Scorsese’s My Voyage To Italy is a sprawling, passionate encomium to the heritage and legacy of Italian cinema, including the likes of Roberto Rosselini, Vittorio de Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, and Michaelangelo Antonioni. More than just a documentary featuring an assortment of highlights, this film transcends that convention to give us the history of one of the most culturally rich nations in the world, and insight into the youth and spirit of arguably one of our greatest living film directors.

Through his loving guidance and narration, we’re treated to a four-hour crash course on the Neo Realist movement and the various other stylistic innovations pioneered by the filmmakers of the time. Yet, the purpose isn’t strictly educative; part of Scorsese’s aim is to share with fellow enthusiasts and lovers of film, art, and history his favourite films. For those who are unfamiliar with the subject, you are introduced to classics such as Paisan, Open City, The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D, Senso, I Vitelloni, La Dolce Vita, 8½, L’avventura, and Eclipse, narrated by a man who grew up in New York City’s Italian community during the 1940s and ‘50s and descended from Sicilian immigrants. Remarkably, we get to see how viewing these films for the first time helped shape Scorsese’s worldview and sense of identity, connecting him at once to his family, his people, and to himself. Likewise, we intuit that his art is his own contribution to this lineage, connecting him back to all that has come before.

The selected clips are all quite engrossing and incredibly tantalizing. None of these films can stand outside of context; there is the sense of a collective life force that permeates each of the films he describes, as if the progress and evolution of a society and an art form are both happening before our eyes. Admittedly, I’ve only seen a smattering of the films depicted, but I am compelled to see them all in full eventually. This is Scorsese’s earnest desire by the end of this documentary: to have inspired us to venture out and explore the past and this hallmark of human achievement we call movies. So too is my own desire in writing this column.