E LA NAVE VA (And the Ship Sails On, 1983) *** Look out! There's fire on that palette! ...it's all about sound, and there is none at all for the first ten minutes. Federico Fellini then paints his characters so starkly and with such definitive strokes that he can easily work 15 or 20 characters immediately, and with continuity; everyone is unique, all are divine and posturing. The dueling tenors in the boiler room is fantastical...I have no further questions as to why opera is a scored, as opposed to improvisational, art form. When you're being attacked by a warship it's good to have the leader of that country on board. Multi-layered metaphors mingle unobtrusively with passing references and jaunty one-liners. Fellini is an incredibly creative artist, with an eye for the beauty of the simple among the extraordinary, the sentimental outrage of the holy, and the enduring frivolous beauty of the bizarre. It must be nice to have your own opera recordings played against the wind amongst your friends and dignitaries and refugees as your ashes blow out over the Mediterranean...
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