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Rating: '…I don't really have a problem with Americans; I have a problem with Italians who are slaves to Americans. Because yes, the Americans liberated us and that’s fine, thank you America, thank you; but you can't kiss their a… for your entire life'.
A little over 70 YEARS of American encroachment on our territory, cultural and beyond, and just a few films addressing it, two: the first, 'An American in Rome' (1954) directed by Steno starring Alberto Sordi, a comedy where a young man in post-war Rome pretends to be an American, addled by the movies he sees in cinemas.
The other is 'My Life in Stars and Stripes' (2003), directed and starring Massimo Ceccherini (of the same generation as Tuscans Leonardo Pieraccioni [the successes 'I laureati' and 'Il ciclone'] and Giorgio Panariello [the comedy film 'Bagnomaria']), another comedy about the imposition of the American lifestyle at home by a family of relatives coming from America.
Ceccherini plays the role of Lando, a farmer living in a country house in Tuscany with a father in a wheelchair and a turkey as a pet, Glu Glu.
One day, his life is disrupted by a reunion after 30 years with an aunt, Giuly, who long ago ran away with an American soldier she met in Tuscany, Jack, to America.
A reunion that happened on Raffaella Carrà's show 'Carramba che sorpresa!' followed by a restaurant lunch where Aunt Giuly, besides her obesity, shows an all-American voracity and Uncle Jack an attachment to whiskey.
During the conversation about the aunt's plans after their reunion, Lando is informed by her of the intention to spend some time in Tuscany at his house.
From the day after the arrival at home, Lando's life is disrupted by the excessive demands and disrespectful behavior of the aunts and uncles who impose their way of living involving extravagant spending on food, the installation of oversized appliances, and not only transforming Lando’s simple and modest house into a residence with all amenities, with a stars and stripes flag hoisted outside. To this are added Uncle Jack's inappropriate 'wake-ups' who at 5 in the morning engages in noisy training exercises as if he were still in the army.
Things get complicated for Lando with the arrival of their only daughter, Wendy, a breathtaking blonde (the fantastic at the time Victoria Silvstedt) and her son, Nicolas, an annoying child obsessed with video games.
Despite a sexual relationship with a farmer woman (with whom he secretly meets in a barn), Lando falls for his cousin, and reciprocated by her, a brief flirtation arises between the two interrupted by the arrival of Nicolas's dad, a musician, with whom she has a difficult relationship.
Meanwhile, Lando's unhappy life with the relatives reaches a breaking point: coming home one day with a female for his turkey, informed by the aunts and uncles sitting at the table of their decision to stay for another three months and to celebrate this with a Thanksgiving dinner, seeing that the turkey used for that moment is his own, Lando goes crazy and takes the relatives hostage, destroying all the objects the uncles forced him to install.
A local TV covers the case and, while outside the police are lined up along with some onlookers, Wendy arrives who, having left a few days before with Nicolas's father, after hearing about her parents and son being held hostage, shouts to Lando that she has returned to stay with him forever.
Convinced with difficulty by his cousin's words, Lando surrenders, comes out of the house, goes towards Wendy, and they kiss.
Five years later Lando's life has changed: having married Wendy he has accepted to take in her son and parents, with the aunt becoming even more obese (so much so that she cannot leave her room's door) and the uncle, struck by a stroke, has taken the place of the father in the wheelchair; besides this, with her he has had two children, but above all, his life has become completely American. Of Italian there is only the farmer woman with whom he still meets for sex.
Particular attention to this film to Victoria Silvstedt, not for her acting skills (no one seems to particularly stand out in this comedy), but for her statuesque beauty that often catches the eye (and wasn't retouched like today… the little Swede!); and thinking of Ceccherini I remember his ungentle attentions towards another jaw-dropping foreigner, the Australian Megan Gale (those first 'Omnitel' commercials, later 'Vodafone', do you remember them?) at the Sanremo Festival of two years earlier (always Carrà hosting): beastly, I wish I had been there to 'fall in love' (get excited) until fainting with two beauties like that.
Interesting the soundtrack with two American music classics: 'Long Tall Sally' by Little Richard and 'At Last' by Etta James with in addition 'A Little Less Conversation' by Elvis Presley in a famous remixed version from a year before (the video is famous).
'My Life in Stars and Stripes' will not leave marks in the history of Italian cinema, but with the masterpiece performed by Alberto Sordi it is useful to tell the assertion of a phenomenon that in our country more than elsewhere has found a fertile ground, and no truly deep attempt to counteract it: in short… our love of country bowing to the foreigner. And in Lando's case… to a foreigner.
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