The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci
by Renato Castellani
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ann Odessa, Filippo Scelzo, Giulio Bosetti, Glauco Onorato, Philippe LeroyDirector: Renato Castellani
Brand: QUESTAR INC
Cinematographer: Antonio Secchi
Writer: Renato Castellani
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 270 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-04-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: QD3395
Studio: Questar
Product features:
- He was the Renaissance s unfinished masterpiece: a supreme artist who completed some of the most memorable paintings the world has ever known and a brilliant thinker of modern ideas and inventions. Who was Leonardo Da Vinci, and what are the secrets behind his genius? This Italian masterpiece directed by Renato Castellani, with a cost of over $25 million dollars, was shot using 100 actors, 500 ext
Movie Reviews of The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci
Movie Review: Brings the quintessential Renaissance man back to life
Summary: 5 Stars
It's unfortunate that the first thing many people would think of today at the mention of Da Vinci's name is the fictitious Da Vinci code rather than, say, the Mona Lisa. I think this presentation's subtitle is absolutely correct when it names Da Vinci "the most brilliant mind in history." Artist, scientist, architect, military designer - he was all of these and more. The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci covers the Maestro's complete life over the course of four and a half hours and then throws in five impressive bonus features on top of that. Philippe Leroy gives an impeccable performance in the starring role, backed up by a cast of hundreds against a backdrop of more than 90 locations in Italy. Produced in 1972, the production looks its age, but it also shows the care and respect with which it was filmed.
We really don't know all that much about much of Da Vinci's life. It sounds a little funny when the film points this out and then goes on to dramatize it all, anyway. Clearly, though, what was put on film here was the result of meticulous research. Of course, probably the greatest treasure trove of history is the remaining collection of Da Vinci's notes, which provide early sketches of some lost works, a record of Da Vinci's incredible inventions, and a record of his anatomical studies of the human body. Truly he was a man hundreds of years ahead of his time, coming up with the original ideas for the tank, an underwater breathing apparatus, the helicopter, the parachute, the machine gun, etc. Tragically, many of his notes and sketches were lost to history, as were some of his artistic creations. Many might be surprised to learn that we have only eleven completed pieces of Da Vinci artwork today. This film takes you through the creation of all of those masterpieces - plus some that have been lost or were never finished.
Da Vinci was a truly fascinating man, and this film does an excellent job communicating his isolation from the rest of the world. He was an illegitimate child who never really had a home of his own. In his prime, he sojourned between his native Florence and Milan, forced to flee on several occasions when the constantly shifting tides of military power among the Italian city states shifted or when France invaded. In his later years, he was forced to suffer the abuse of the hot-tempered upstart Michelangelo, before finally finding some sanctuary in France in his last days.
I think the film does quite a fair job of dramatizing Da Vinci's life. Many biographical treatments resort to sensational charges concerning the mysterious legal troubles that fueled his original exit from Florence and indulge in unfounded speculations of homosexuality. Everything here is based as accurately as possible on what history tells us. Da Vinci's biggest problem was that he was really too brilliant. Forever fascinated with nature, he found himself distracted all too often from other work he was doing, and his meticulous methods required great patience on the part of his clients. He could go days without touching a brush, yet he was working all the same - unlike any other artist, Da Vinci's art pieces were "written" as well as painted. He studied every facet of horses and how they moved, for example, before attempting to make a bronze horse sculpture.
Da Vinci was not only the most brilliant mind in history, he was also probably history's most brilliant failure. Besides the number of commissioned works he never completed, some of his works were plagued with problems: his Battle of Anghiari mural was ruined as the result of a failed experiment with drying the oil-based paint, for example. Even his marvelous fresco of The Last Supper began suffering cracks shortly after its completion. Seeing both his successes and his failures recreated on the screen, one gets a much deeper appreciation of the man and his humanity. It's not really a happy story, as Da Vinci suffered many wrongs in his life and was never really given the respect he deserved (even his grave was desecrated and his bones hurled into a mass burial pit by foreign invaders several years after his death).
Besides the feature film, the DVD also includes five short bonus features: The Rise of Renaissance Italy, Leonardo's Masterpieces, Da Vinci's Inventions, The Maestro vs. Michelangelo, and The Works of Two Great Masters: A Timeline. The whole presentation brings Da Vinci to life in as realistic a way as possible, and that makes The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci a masterpiece of sorts in and of itself.
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