Neorealism in Zentropa and Lamerica

Looking for a comparative angles between Zentropa and  Lamerica it might seems perverse to propose that both films established strong sense of naivety in the roles of the protagonist who are both from elsewhere but not far from anywhere close.  On the one hand Lar Von Tier creates offbeat noir German translation layered in with convention of a horror-thriller genre thats’ instigated by a femme fatale constructing dark to white element of romance and intrigue.  While on the other hand Gianni Amelio narrates his own auteur impression with a mise-en-scene shots that strips his character of his identity alienating him in a continuity of post-modern Neorealism.  Both films use a travel motif as desire for each character to confront their problems. In comparison there is not so simple relationship they each share with their visiting nation.

The is a tentative feeling by both characters to implant their own alternative ideas to the sub-national state of Albania and supranational state of post- World War Germany. The contrasting dark spatial image of Germany, infiltrated by an American and the ease of mobility by the Italian within Albania move the narrative from a national space to an international perspective. Projecting some major similarities the films question the integrity of each characters central of point of reference and the integrity of their double occupancy. In a state parallel existence each scene gives a visual inquiry to the ruins of Frankfurt and the ruins of the Albanian countryside as metaphor that ruptures their lives.  The protagonists become embroiled in scenes where “the image (of Germany and Albania) becomes projection by others onto a divided and uncertain space” (Glat184).  This is a profound statement but what is translated by  the narrative can be translated as how Neorealism is foreground in each film. As a relationship is constructed between the spectacular and the geopolitical each film communicates stages of European-ness as a contextual problem by definition.  These films inherit the periods of 1945 and 1994 but they also map the cinematic space and time of a European psyche connect to Germany film theory.