From such films as "La Dolce Vita" and "Bicycle Thieves" to "Cinema Paradiso" and "Dear Diary," Italian cinema has provided striking images of Italy as a nation and a people. In the first comprehensive study of Italian cinema from 1886 onward, Sorlin explores the changing relationship of Italian cinema and Italian society and asks whether the national cinema really does represent Italian interests and culture. Sorlin discusses the work of major filmmakers, considering both films which became internationally acclaimed and those which, though popular with the domestic audience, were never released outside Italy. Sorlin's examination spans Italian cinema from the earliest days of film technology, through the dark years of fascism to postwar Neorealism and lastly explores the era of big budget commercial films.
