It was only a few weeks ago I mentioned how one of my favourite movie genres are films based on true stories. And I finally discovered what that genre is called! It's a BIOPIC film, which, now knowing the term, seems rather obvious.
In that previous post, I spoke about 'The Imitation Game', 'Big Eyes' and 'The Woman in Gold' and briefly mentioned 'Pride'. Well, today I watched another biopic film purely by chance, a 2013 Belgium film called 'Marina' which is about the early life of Rocco Granata.
Rocco Granata is an Italian musician who moved to Belgium when he was ten because his dad worked in the mines. The film shows how his family were treated as Italian emigrants in the 1940's and how tough it was for the father working in those bad conditions underground and trying to create a better life for his children. Focussing on Rocco's love for music it shows how it impacts the family and his relationship with his father. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, getting completely emotionally invested with the lives of the Granata's. I got frustrated, worried and was literally jumping in my seat in the hope for Rocco to find success.
I didn't really know who Rocco was, and it was only halfway through when Rocco sings his improvised song 'Marina', my mum all of a sudden started singing along. She got really excited because she used to dance and sing along to this song when she was a child. Whenever she hears Italian songs that she grew up with, mum gets very nostalgic, and one of my own favourite moments with her is when she sings Italian songs to me and we dance traditional-style around the house.
'Marina' is a really catchy song and after the film ended and we all agreed how incredible it was, mum and I looked up the lyrics to the song and sang together. I never formally learnt Italian, and I really want to one day, but growing up hearing it all the time with my mum's family, if I were to read it, I use correct pronunciation. It is to the point that when I was in high school, my French teacher told me I spoke French with an Italian accent (I was pretty bad at French).
So this evening ended up being really lovely, spending quality time with mum and is it weird to say that I felt like I was connecting with my heritage? I don't know, it's sort of like my Italian genes are usually put on mute and every now and then they are like "yeah, we want to be present". Mind you, some of my friends see me as 'the Italian one' even though I'm half. With my dad's side of the family, I do stand out quite a lot though, with my Italian features next to my blonde hair and blue eyed cousins. I even remember one of my friends once telling me that I "look very Italian today" and because it's such a weird comment, I was like "It's what my face looks like every other day", which he replied "I know, but I just seemed to notice it more today... it's a compliment."
It's funny how this week in one of my subjects, we were talking about cultures, so this is so relevant. Connecting with one's culture is something that I think is important and living in Australia, because we are such a multicultural country, I find that we establish new identities for ourselves and sometimes forget about our family history which does impact on us when you really think about it.
Okay, that's enough philosophical epiphanic moments for me today, so I'll loop back to my original point: the 2013 film 'Marina' is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys biopic films.
In that previous post, I spoke about 'The Imitation Game', 'Big Eyes' and 'The Woman in Gold' and briefly mentioned 'Pride'. Well, today I watched another biopic film purely by chance, a 2013 Belgium film called 'Marina' which is about the early life of Rocco Granata.
Rocco Granata is an Italian musician who moved to Belgium when he was ten because his dad worked in the mines. The film shows how his family were treated as Italian emigrants in the 1940's and how tough it was for the father working in those bad conditions underground and trying to create a better life for his children. Focussing on Rocco's love for music it shows how it impacts the family and his relationship with his father. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, getting completely emotionally invested with the lives of the Granata's. I got frustrated, worried and was literally jumping in my seat in the hope for Rocco to find success.I didn't really know who Rocco was, and it was only halfway through when Rocco sings his improvised song 'Marina', my mum all of a sudden started singing along. She got really excited because she used to dance and sing along to this song when she was a child. Whenever she hears Italian songs that she grew up with, mum gets very nostalgic, and one of my own favourite moments with her is when she sings Italian songs to me and we dance traditional-style around the house.
'Marina' is a really catchy song and after the film ended and we all agreed how incredible it was, mum and I looked up the lyrics to the song and sang together. I never formally learnt Italian, and I really want to one day, but growing up hearing it all the time with my mum's family, if I were to read it, I use correct pronunciation. It is to the point that when I was in high school, my French teacher told me I spoke French with an Italian accent (I was pretty bad at French).
So this evening ended up being really lovely, spending quality time with mum and is it weird to say that I felt like I was connecting with my heritage? I don't know, it's sort of like my Italian genes are usually put on mute and every now and then they are like "yeah, we want to be present". Mind you, some of my friends see me as 'the Italian one' even though I'm half. With my dad's side of the family, I do stand out quite a lot though, with my Italian features next to my blonde hair and blue eyed cousins. I even remember one of my friends once telling me that I "look very Italian today" and because it's such a weird comment, I was like "It's what my face looks like every other day", which he replied "I know, but I just seemed to notice it more today... it's a compliment."
It's funny how this week in one of my subjects, we were talking about cultures, so this is so relevant. Connecting with one's culture is something that I think is important and living in Australia, because we are such a multicultural country, I find that we establish new identities for ourselves and sometimes forget about our family history which does impact on us when you really think about it.
Okay, that's enough philosophical epiphanic moments for me today, so I'll loop back to my original point: the 2013 film 'Marina' is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys biopic films.
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