representation in narratives...

I just have a short blog about representation. I watched an Italian film the other day in one of my film classes. It was about the oppression of Italians from the Nazis. The entire film was very realistic. It was in fact a neorealist film. It was a fiction film based on historical events. The only thing that was not truly based in reality was the portrayal of the Nazis. Now don’t get me wrong. I would probably portray the Nazis this way had I made this film. I am not saying that they are being portrayed poorly, but it is a little more caricature than it is reality. Every character in this film seemed like maybe they could have existed. The Nazis, however, were portrayed as these almost over the top villains. They were very one dimensional characters. They almost seemed like villains from a comic book which I thought was interesting. Their leader in the film was very flamboyant. There was a very visible contrast between the Nazis and the freedom fighters when they were in the same scenes. When they were separated it was almost like watching two different films based on which characters were in the scene. I find interesting that even this film that was supposed to portray a gritty reality made the Nazis look like these very unreal characters. It is just another way that people portray things the way they see them even when it may not be the whole truth. I do want to stress though that I am not sticking up for the Nazis. This is simply an observation in the subject of representation.