The Age of the Medici

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Audience Member This sprawling vision of fifteenth-century renaissance is a challenge, but one that gets more rewarding and involving as it progresses. In the early seventies, master Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini famously renounced commercial and artistic filmmaking (for entertainment and art's sake); he announced that he would spend the rest of his career crafting a series of educational films that would allow the eager viewer to be transported back in time for the purpose of learning about the present via history. In essence, Rossellini wanted to reinvent the textbook with reenactments, relive history using a combination of imagination and fact. This installment, clocking in at over four hours (divided into three parts), examines Florence in the 1400s, channeling the experience through a powerful banker (Cosimo de' Medici, played by Marcello Di Falco) and a self-taught architect (Leon Battista Alberti, played by Virginio Gazzolo). The two figures, which presumably represent, respectively, order and creativity, merge at a certain point in the film, and Rossellini begins to suggest that there is no place in this world for strictly one or another- they are two sides of the same coin, and that coin is progress. The film is sterile because Rossellini chose to treat the subject matter the way it would have been experienced at the time; actors portray people who are living their life day-to-day, and dramatics are resisted in favor of person-to-person conversation. It's an interesting perspective and remains wholly unique, a movement by a real artist who began to resist the idea of individual artistry. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member I have been Obsessed by the Reach's & Influences of Both the Medici & Borgia Families for as long back as I can remember.From Pirates to the Worlds Bankers, to become Popes & Monarch's & the most influential Luminaries of Art & Politics of Europe during the Renaissance.This was done by Roberto Rossellini & so informative.I wish one of the Networks would play it or remake it as so few know the History as they should Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Very interesting. Not a lot of acting, mostly dialogue-based, and mostly about Cosimo (il Vecchio) de Medici and Leon Battista Alberti. Beautiful settings though, but probably an advantage to know a bit about the Medicis/the Renaissance/Florence etc. in advance. Deeply recommended to everyone interested in history and/or this time period. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member In 1963, the most influential director in the history of European cinema at the time declared cinema was dead and that going forward he would only make television shows with the sole purpose of educating viewers about history. Art be damned. He would make these cheaply, on two-week shooting schedules, and with non-actors. Age of Medici last night (a 4.5 hour epic shot with a $750,000 shoestring budget) felt like I was discovering a brand new kind of cinema. These non-actors who appear to be reading their lines from off-stage cue cards pop and crackle off the screen like live wires of knowledge within immutable backdrops of Renaissance art. It's an even more radical approach to acting than Bresson's. I have no idea how Rossellini did it. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member woo hoo! first review and ratings! nice! so, ive been enjoying the recent eclipse set of rossellini but i am interested in history. i really enjoyed blaise pascal a lot more simply it was curious to learn about him. however, the medici was very informative and filmed very well. while definetely dry, its a necessary for those interested in a look at italian history Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Age of the Medici

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