I have just seen the the
movie "Manuale d’amore 2" (love manual 2) in Italian. This movie made a ridiculous seven million dollars after ten days, which has made me come to the sad conclusion: that my country is passing through a time of crisis; mostly concerning our values which are currently made up of modern myths and two-dimensional heroes who are trying to overcome a confused society. This film was fantastically overrated, without a proper beginning or an end, no originality and no sense whatsoever. You won't find a
morale to this story that's for sure. The most disconcerting
thing is that the Italians
loved this movie. They loved the idea of transgression that this movie fails to transmit to the audience; they loved the messages of tolerance which probably they didn't even understand, the macabre sense of analyzing the problems which haunt today's youth. This movie's main aim was to make
people laugh and not to teach. The real beauty and reason for feeling proud was the fact that Italy now sees Spain as the symbol of the freedom of sexes and religion. This movie, if you can call it that, can be divided clearly in four parts. In the first part, originally called 'eros' , a faded Monica Bellucci and a patient of hers try to reveal the secret ingredient for love. Bellucci's breasts dominate the whole story and the audience: very beautiful and instructive and without morale. The onlh high-point of the whole thing is probably the wheel-chair bound friend's humor who, every night, calls a different prostitute to pose as his girl friends.In the second part of the movie, which, at least exceeds the first part thanks to the grotesque way it has been presented. the protagonists here were Fabio Volo and a hysterical blond. The morale of this story was to show us that in order to obtain an artificial insemination you need to go to Barcelona, which just proves how close-minded the Italians can be. There's no doubt that Fabio loved the capital of Catalogna since he's trying to make it his personal symbol, but maybe it would do him a world of good if someone patiently explained to him that Christopher Colombus has already existed and that there are more than twenty-thousand people living in Barcelona without even counting the tourists; and maybe that people live in an unrealistic world where 'O Sole Mio' and 'Senza Fine' are actually sad songs. Apart from this, the rest of the story is simply horrible. The catchy come-backs are what the viewer will
really like: "You want to criticize the Italian Society? Is it a comedy? Is it a horror movie? Is it an audition for people who have never been to a cinema and who have suddenly decided to start acting Have they opened a new live-acting bar in Milan?" There's no reason why one should try to find comprehensible answers, since people are not really interested in finding them.The third part, and probably the most touching of all, two Italian gay men try to fight against prejudice. One of them wants to go to Spain, the land of freedom, where they can get married and have their own family, while the other seems to be scared of how this will make his father feel towards him. In the end, the two manage to get married and finally, the story ends. However the viewer is left in doubt whether the worried man was really gay or if, in reality, he preferred women. The way he speaks about a woman's emotions makes you think that he may actually be straight. From what I understood, the morale of this story was that we have to accept homosexuals. It's all great and again I have to say 'viva Espana'. The final part is really inexplicable, at one point I thought that this was an excerpt from one of the movies 'Vacanze di Natale' where Vercone launches himself mercilessly into an apathetic love story with a girl who could have easily been his daughter. It all end with the protagonist dying from a heart attack. Thare the votes that I give for this movie: film locations: 6.5 ,acting: 3, scenery: 4, directing: 3, comedy moments: 6.5, special vote for the Italians: 3. My suggestions for this movie (apart from suggesting to redo the whole thing) would be a to make Italians really think with their own heads and not with the delusions of others! Thanks. Personal judgment vote for this movie would be a complete waste of 6.50 Euros.Francesco Spinoglio
Published: March 31, 2008
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