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I think the Netflix sleeve for this movie said that it was the most accessible of Federico Fellini's movies. I think I would have to agree, for the most part, at least based on the movies I have seen so far, although La Dolce Vita would be a close second. Based somewhat on Fellini's own childhood and his own home town, Amarcord follows the people of a small coastal town through one year. It begins beautifully as the spring arrives, and the town has a bonfire to burn the winter witch. From there, it takes the audience through small episodes throughout the four seasons.

The emphasis on the seasons seems to be significant not just because there are four literal seasons, but also because the movie is about a season of life in the town of Amarcord, and of Italy itself. The setting in the 1930s, and the town lives under a fascist regime and is proud of and happy for it. Fellini is able to show how a small town such as this is almost untouched by the outside world, and what elements do touch it don't seem to affect it very strongly. They lead a happy life, and in that season, it's easy to see how fascism seemed like a good thing to the townspeople. The movie also seems to represent a season of Fellini's own life, since one of the prominent characters in the movie is an adolescent boy. Of course, this is an Italian movie, and an Italian movie with an adolescent boy is certain to explore sexuality, and so the movie gives us glimpses of the adolescent season of a boy's life - most of which turn out to be humorous scenes that show him blundering his way through discovering women. The town and the boy are both a bit childish and yet in the process of growing up. Perhaps Fellini attributes the childishness to the town to show that its own season in life was as naive as that of a boy in his adolescent season.

There are plenty of other characters besides the boy, and plenty of scenes that don't focus on the political. In fact, this film works for me just in the way it caused me to feel nostalgic about a place and time that I've never experienced. The traditions, the town's love of its local actress and the movies, the snow maze and the beautiful scene of the peacock in the middle of winter, and the wonderful scene where the whole town gets in boats in the middle of the night to paddle out to where they can see a giant ocean liner float by - all of them feel very genuine, and many of them contain memorable images.

I wouldn't say that anyone who watched this movie would love it, based on its content, but for me, it was a nice change of pace from some of the more serious foreign films I've been watching lately (reviews to come), and I enjoyed it quite a bit.