Rossini - L'Italiana in Algeri
by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Allan Monk, Douglas Ahlstedt, James Levine, Marilyn Horne, Paolo MontarsoloDirector: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: Italian (Original Language); Chinese (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Italian (Published)
Format: Classical, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 157 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-03-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Movie Reviews of Rossini - L'Italiana in Algeri
Movie Review: Oh Shame! Such Scurrilous Stereotyping!
Summary: 1 Stars
Rossini's "Italian Girl in Algeria," which premiered in Venice in 1813, is simply a shocking vestige of unenlightended ethno-religio-political denigration of our fellow monotheists, the Mahometans of the 'corsair' states of North Africa, the descendents of highly cultured and scientifically advanced preservers of ancient Greek wisdom and true founders of everything worth smelling in Europe after its looong Dark Ages, ahem! The Turkish Bey of Algiers, a distinguished civil leader of the Ottoman Empire, is portrayed first as a rapacious tyrant and then shown degenerating into a hapless simpleton, slave to his passion for a captive Italian feminist. The fact that basso Paolo Montarsolo sings and acts this egregious role with utterly dazzling vocal technique and side-splitting comic art must not cancel our recognition of the slander and libel it represents. The chorus of eunuchs, guards of the Bey's harem, are shown as degraded fatties with bare bellies and jowls, for which there is clearly no historical excuse! Then they re-appear as a chorus of Italian slaves of the Bey, singing lustily about the unification of Italy, then far in the future, which would painfully diminish the political influence of the Holy See by incorporating the Vatican States into a (gasp!) secular republic. I'm sure the good-hearted Venetians of 1813 were suitably shocked by this rude political diatribe disguised as a comic opera.
Nor should we be forestalled in our discernment by the fact that every member of the cast sings splendidly, with the great contralto Marilyn Horne at the peak of her vocal prowess, and all recorded with nearly perfect acoustic fidelity. Oh no, and the facts that the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra plays splendidly and that the sets and costumes are of such opulence and glamour as we can scarcely afford in more recent productions should certainly not intrude upon our righteous rejection of such bamboozling mockery of what others hold sacred. And forget the elegant camera work, and the tight ensemble acting of the cast, and above all forget the splendid overtures and the dazzling vocal quintets and all those artful contrivances that made Rossini the greatest opera composer of his era! Just think how you would feel if you attended an opera in Algeria today and beheld the President of the United States portrayed as a lecherous buffoon whose extra-marital escapades diminished the respect of the world for his country!
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