Communism was simply a natural and inevitable response for countries like France and Italy, who had recently seen the other end of the political spectrum up close and personal. Today we associate it with tyranny and Stalinism, but that is very far from the reality of communism for Europeans who embraced it during the era in which "The Organizer" was made. McCarthy did his job well in demonizing communism for Americans, but being a communist in Europe in those days was simply about politically engaged individuals seeking to rectify the social injustice they saw all around them. More narrow-minded American viewers will need to be reminded that communism did not have the terrible connotation in Europe in the '60s that it has in America today. In fact, cinema in general has been filled with them: Godard, Gorin, Marker, Varda, Fassbinder, Ôshima, Eisenstein, Kalatozov, et cetera. Other than the apolitical Fellini, and perhaps Rossellini, whose politics are still a bit of an enigma to me, Italian cinema was filled with Marxist thinkers and self-proclaimed communists: Visconti, Pasolini, De Sica, Antonioni, Rosi, Bertolucci, Pontecorvo, and Monicelli. Monicelli was a lifelong Marxist and communist. We can certainly see the neorealist influence all over the film, but we can also see Monicelli's own unique brand of comedic farce in this entertaining blend of cinematic styles. "The Organizer" is halfway between a standard commedia all'italiana film and a more traditional neorealist exercise like "Bicycle Thieves" or "Umberto D.". But I suppose there's no need for the two to be mutually exclusive, and there were other times where the humor and drama came together wonderfully. There were times when I wasn't sure if something was supposed to be sad or funny. It goes heavier on the drama, and lighter on the comedy, which is nearly always saturated with a pathos that exceeds what is typical of the commedia all'italiana genre. This all fits "Big Deal on Madonna Street" to a tee, but what about "The Organizer"? The film, released in 1963 and starring Marcello Mastroianni, has all the aforementioned qualities, but in smaller doses. There tend to be light political undertones which unobtrusively satirize contemporary life in Italy, and an emotional undercurrent that stems from a sympathy with likable characters who simply can't get a foothold in modern society. Commedia all'italiana is generally characterized by a mixture of mildly over-the-top humor and a gentle poignancy that anchors what could otherwise be absurdist farce. It's a wonderful comedy, and I'd recommend seeing it, if possible, before "The Organizer". His first big success, I believe, was the 1958 film, "Big Deal on Madonna Street", which is the first major film I know of from the commedia all'italiana genre ("comedy Italian style", taking its name from Pietro Germi's 1961 film, "Divorce Italian Style"). Monicelli was one such filmmaker to emerge from the waning neorealist movement. Following it came a generation of Italian filmmakers - including Fellini and Antonioni - who had apprenticed under the neorealist directors, and who kept Italian cinema alive for one more generation while the "big three" neorealists (Rossellini, De Sica, and Visconti) moved in increasingly disparate directions. Mario Monicelli was one of the successors to the neorealist movement in Italian cinema, which began in the mid-'40s and catapulted Italy to the forefront of international cinema.
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