Did you know that watching movies to learn Italian can be an incredibly effective way to learn the language?
Movies to learn Italian, are an easy and effective way to recreate an Italian full immersion at your home. Exposure to the real language will do wonders for your overall language learning journey. Not to mention that watching Italian movies will give you a wealth of information about everything in Italian.
While you are watching an Italian movie It will help you adapt to the natural speed of Italian conversation and Italian complements. Movies are a good educational tool to complement your language classes. However, if you watch them in their original version, but with english subtitles it won’t be a resource to learn.
Thanks to them you can not only improve your Italian, but also discover the customs and daily life of the different cities in Italy (or other countries where the language “spaghetti” is spoken), the different accents present in this language, get ideas for future trips, etc.
WHY LEARNING ITALIAN THROUGH MOVIES IS A GREAT IDEA?
While watching a great movie, you can internalize rules, verbs, and lexicon with less effort than you can with a classical learning strategy. Following a story gives strong motivation to understand dialogues, and you study, strive, and learn without even noticing. Moreover, you’ll know more about the history of Italian cinema and Italian culture in general.
We have selected six absolutely important films that every Italian learner should watch. These are not only excellent study materials but also illuminate Italian and the culture, history, and humor of Italian speakers.in
La Dolce Vita
“La Dolce Vita” by Federico Fellini may be the most famous Italian film of all time.
It’s a melancholic and vivid portrayal of the Roman cultural environment during the Italian economic boom.
The protagonist Marcello (Marcello) is a restless journalist, living three love affairs: heiress Maddalena, American movie stars Sylvia, and Emma, who is his official girlfriend who attempts suicide at the beginning of the film.
When Anita Ekberg (alias Sylvia) jumped into the Trevi Fountain, it was one of the most memorable sights ever.
La Vita è Bella
This is a movie directed and starring Roberto Benigni. It developed in the atmosphere of the Second World War, with the main role being Guido Orefice (played by Benigni).
It tells the story of a couple and their son who has been imprisoned in an extermination camp during the Second World War. Despite the horrors the story tackles, the dialogue is very simple. One of the many positive aspects of this film is that if you’ve already watched the dubbed version in your language, then the Italian is easy to follow.
Director: Roberto Benigni
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
One of the best-known titles of Italian cinema of the 80s was Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, which has as its protagonist a boy who falls in love with cinema through his friendship with the projectionist (Philippe Noiret) of the small cinema of his small Sicilian village, shortly after the Second World War.
Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1988, “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” is also set in various moments of time (the childhood and youth of the protagonist, on the one hand, as well as his present period as a famous film director, on the other) and constitutes a sincere and emotional homage to both cinema and its own cinemas understood as places for film exhibition and even as a meeting point for people.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
La grande belleza
Jep Gambardella has been tempted by Rome’s bustling nightlife for decades, but after his 65th birthday and past shocks, Jep travels through nightclubs and parties, looking for eternity, absurdity, and exquisite Scenery.
Director: Paolo Sorrentino.
Malena
Malèna is about the peril of a beauty through the eyes of a 12-year-old kid named Renato. He experiences three things on the same day, the beginning of the war, getting a bike, and sees the arrival of Malèna in town. Through his eyes, we see the curse of beauty and loneliness of Malena, whose husband is presumed to be dead, and through his soul, we see his love for her.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Suburra
In recent years, many Italian gangster movies and TV series have been inspired by American films, transformed into a very dark and violent aesthetic.
Suburra is one of them. The story took place in rainy, disturbing Rome, and the story centers around organized crime and Italian politics, following an Italian member of parliament who gets tied up in a prostitute’s murder. Intense, dramatic, and at times dark, the film shows the main character trying to keep the death under wraps to stop it from ruining his family life, career, and reputation.
Director: Stefano Sollima
Have you seen these Italian movies before? Tell us about them in the comments and we hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.
