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Rating: Hello folks, today I'm taking a break from the cinema of Italy to explore with you whether there exists a lesser-known cinema overseas worth discussing on these pages.
The choice almost automatically fell on "Sweet Home Alabama," a 2002 film that launched Hollywood's rising star Reese Witherspoon before the Oscar for the Johnny Cash biopic ('05), leveraging a nice series of clichés and stereotypes that cement genre cinema, this time of a sentimental nature, with some classic overtones, tackling the well-worn theme of returning (nostos) to one's hometown.
I must say that I find Witherspoon likable and would gladly invite her to dinner at some roadside diner (with a menu offered by Il_Paolo: camogli + juice + macchiato), but as an actress, she doesn't quite convince me, especially in films like this: too many kitten-like gestures, too over-the-top acting (besides, her voice in the dubbed version is annoying), too many expressive mannerisms, not much overall appeal. I find her somewhat the Meg Ryan of the 2000s and beyond, although I hope she won't: a) inflate her lips; b) act in a Jane Champion thriller; c) become a post-forty nymphomaniac.
With that in mind, let's look at the film's plot: a budding fashion designer (like the daughter of the Pooh keyboardist) decides to marry a member of New York City's WASP aristocracy (with mom Medea - master cutter), but to do so, she must convince her ex-husband to divorce amicably (typical common law tricks), traveling to her hometown in the charming southern state of Alabama (pron.: "Eh laBama"). For the girl, it will be an opportunity to rediscover her past, her simple family, and to clash with a rural culture she left behind without much regret, to join New York’s elite and the customs of its citizens: initially disgusted, then reconnected to her roots, she'll also find a way to reconsider her almost ex-husband, perhaps not the good-for-nothing she thought she had left behind. The ending is both predictable and touching for the softest hearts.
Considerable success in the States, flop in Italy like almost all of Witherspoon’s films (who knows why), the film blends a whole set of clichés, basing the entire narrative on the splits between: city - country; wealth-poverty; culture - rural inculture; radical chic family - traditional family; techno house trip hop music - country rock+Lynyrd Skynyrd; Bloodhound-poodle; sports car-pickup truck and other varied morays, all shaken with a bit of love and some bargain-basement good feelings, with a final redemption for the South versus the North. Noticeably, other Alabama stereotypes, like the KKK and its consequences, are instead glossed over, sweetening reality a bit, as must be done necessarily for these films meant to capture a wide audience without offending anyone.
I wonder what would have happened if we did the same thing in Italy, highlighting in a female version the character of Abatantuono's southern boy, who returns to the south masking his accent with northern inflections... something I've sadly seen done on a few occasions. Even here, one could harp on the usual trite and tested divisions (butter/oil; parmesan/pecorino; t-shirt/tank top; Nek/Gigi D'Alessio; Lilli Gruber/Carmen La Sorella + assorted leagues), culminating in a collective love-fest and so be it.
Bah, it all seems contrived because, in my opinion, there's nothing worse than returning to places that watched us grow up and leave, or - worse still - places that saw us happy: we change, others change, nothing changes and this maybe makes us angry, perhaps it's better to set out again as Ulysses did, sailing towards the Pillars of Hercules.
This is indeed how Europeans think, who, by developing Ulysses' route, discovered America and then the States (not yet such obviously), whereas, Americans think differently, who after much wandering return home and remain happy there: except then to come to Venice, and return home with a plastic gondola.
Low rating, better the lesser-known Italian cinema, trust an expert.
Plastically Yours
Il_Paolo
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