Malena

I first saw this film via Netflix streaming last year and loved it. I often suggest it to others, and came to the conclusion I should own it. After searching online, I discovered some issues. One being that there are two separate versions, cut (for American audiences) and uncut / special edition (apparently for the rest of the world...who have eyes and minds that can tolerate a visual portrayal of the nude human form). Of course I wanted the latter, not only because Monica Bellucci is easily one of the most beautiful women in the history of forever and ever...but also because I despise an artist's creation being hacked and slashed due to a vocal minority of insecure 'potential' viewers. Censorship of artistic expression is shameful, unless it breaks the law in some way. The second issue I found was that as an American the only Blu-ray option I had was the cut / censored version. Because of this I opted to search for the uncensored 2-Disc DVD set from Korea, which I'd found through research was supposedly Region zero and would play on Region 1 (United States, Canada, Bermuda, U.S. territories) players. I contacted the Amazon merchant "Import CD's" out of California concerning the region issue and they provided me with all they had, which was not much more than Amazon had.I went ahead with the order through Import CD's as I've dealt with them in the past. Shipping was very prompt and the merchandise was in fine quality when received. The back of the case stated region 3, so I used Wikipedia to find any more information and noticed that region 3 should NOT play in region 1 players. I took a chance anyway, noting both the information from Import CD's and Amazon's website, as well as user reviews acknowledging the Korean version as the one to buy. I was pleased to find that it indeed does work on a US Playstation 3, however the 2nd disc (special features) would not load. Just a continuous clicking as the system continued the attempt. I tried the disc in my PC. GOM Player would not load it, but VLC did load the menu and managed to play through roughly 5 minutes of the first "making of" before stalling and not allowing any more playback, even after multiple attempts at different menu selections. This is not a huge deal for me as I got the movie at a reasonable price and the actual movie was all I really wanted anyway. I'll check YouTube, etc. to see if I can find special feature items at some later time.Overall the movie quality is great (other than the first minute or two, in which video quality does suffer from lack of clarity a bit) for a DVD being up-converted on a PS3. The picture is 2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen and the disc is single layer, NTSC. Audio was fine (the movie includes a great soundtrack!), with both Dolby Digital 2.0/DTS and Dolby 5.1 surround as options. If you're new to this movie, do understand that it is a foreign film (Italian) without English dialogue, so you'll have to opt for English or Korean subtitles with the Italian spoken dialogue. I found that the subtitles did not really detract from my enjoyment of the film at all...and once you've seen the film you'll be watching it again anyway, so you'll have plenty of time to see it all. The packaging reads mainly in English on the cover and binding, however the film description on the back is only Korean.In summary, if you love this film buy this Korean 2-Disc version (Barcode # 8 809154 130234)...unless a Blu-ray uncut special edition for your region is announced, in which case that is a must buy over this!. If you're on the fence and a Netflix subscriber, I suggest streaming it now, or rent it wherever you can find it...either version. You won't regret it. This is a fantastic coming of age film with wonderful acting and great atmosphere. Highly recommended!

I love this movie, Monica Bellucci is an icon, definitely recommend renting this film.

A wonderful movie. Great acting. Beautiful woman Malena.

Direction is uninvasively clever; challenges Belucci to embody Beauty and Love, albeit euphemistic and blunt. She is an important star, Classic & Immediate. Italian town is not disingenuously anachronistic to a novice eye like mine. Chapter weighing is empathetic and appetizing. Not an Italian speaker here, and the dialogue translation and/or script may have felt gruff. Read others for a plot analysis. Painted an artistically vintage feminist illustration upon hindsight.

I enjoyed this movie, but it is distressing because it happened too many times at the end of WW2. It shows both the strengths and weaknesses of human character. It also shows how easy it is for a society to ravage and ruin someone's life, especially a woman or stranger. Monica does a good and perhaps great job playing her character, and if you like the "grown up" narration of the narrator's past, i.e. The Wonder Years or Sandlot, then you should like this movie as well. The only aspect that I did not find totally credible, is when Monica surrenders to the town's expectations of her in order to get food, she seemingly disliked sleeping with an Italian leader but later in the movie, seemingly enjoys sleeping with multiple Germans. Given that she continues to love her husband throughout the movie, I find it hard to believe that she would give herself totally over to the Germans even when it was the only choice to get food. I am not saying that she may not have had a good time, but given the theme of the movie being the tragedy of what happens to her and her love for her husband, it would seem contradictary to then have her enjoy being a prostitute given that the town forced her into it. Overall it tells the very real story of many women and other strangers in a setting that happened in many towns in Europe during and after WW2, and in other places during other major wars.

Monica Bellucci is spectacular in this film. Great movie showing the effect of war on those left behind. Can't say enough about her showing.

This is one of the best movies I ever watched. This movie explores the theme of love, beauty, and sexuality. The whole life of Malena is presented through the eyes of the young boy. Every time I watch this movie I cry because I understand what this boy feels. I think that this was his only love that he will never forget. Malena's beauty is her punishment. Our society is such that people like to create stereotypes. Malena was forced to become a prostitute; she had no choice. This is definitely a philosophical movie that reminds me of works of Fedor Dostoevsky . In one of his books Dostoevsky also described girls who had to work as prostitutes. Dostoevsky describes these girls as angels with bright feathers. Malena's fate is to suffer. The crowd in the city where Malena grew up could not swallow the fact that Malena is a gorgeous woman. Both men and women are mesmerized by her beauty. Women and men jealous and gossip, and as a result, Malena's reputation is damaged and she could not find a job to survive. The community is heartless. The boy is the only one who seems to understand Malena's situation and bravely helps Malena. This movie is about the true love.