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Venice Revealed (2009)

Posted By: Someonelse

Date: 15 Oct 2021 15:44:45

SD / DVD

This documentary from Athena Learning and Colonial Pictures finds historian-cum-belletrist Peter Ackroyd leading viewers on a multidimensional tour of Venice, one of Italy's most intriguing and mysterious cities. As Ackroyd tours such landmarks as churches, palazzos, alleyways and much more, he opts to focus on Venetian art (immortalized in tableaux by Guardi and Canaletto), music (such as the hymns of Vivaldi|) and theater (typified by the legendary Venetian carnival). The film also interpolates conversations with preservationists struggling to protect the city's artifacts from time and the sea.

IMDB: n/a | amazon | Rotten Tomatoes

Episodes details:

1 THE CITY AS ARCHITECTURE-Arrival is by boat taxi. Buildings were built in this city on water. Venice is like no other earthly city. The visual is so captivating that listening closely to the historical accounts is a trial. John Ruskin's, "The Stones of Venice", highlights the masonry architecture of 5 styles. Venice is architecturally a mask: facade over decaying brick. Yet, underwater wood piles support the unique aesthetic structures.

2 THE CITY AS ART-There is not a parcel of Venice that has not been featured in fine visual art. The city itself is so powerfully ready for the artist, it's like the master painter arranged buildings, canals, bridges, and water as he did fruits for his still-life works. Old masterpieces show the history of Venice as well as how little has changed. Of course, Tintoretto, a life-long Venice artist, is a focus. Also highlighted is the city's own artistic style: prestezza.

3 THE CITY AS MUSIC-Music describes life in Venice as much as any other facet. Gondoliers and working women sing constantly. In Venice the madrigal was born; Venice was opera's capitol; and it was birthplace of Vivaldi and his spirited, fiery, music; including the orphan girls' choir. "The texture of Venetian music is the texture of the Venetian soul."

4 THE CITY AS THEATRE-Venice is full of small and large theatres and is itself a stage, a set, with the town folk, the gondoliers, each a player on its stage. It happens constantly from street pantomime to great productions–and of course the opera. Even religious ritual and pageantry is elaborately staged. In Venice, theatre is life.

For centuries, Venice has fired the imaginations of painters, poets, composers – and millions of visitors. Join writer and historian Peter Ackroyd for an in-depth tour of the art, architecture, music, and theatre of Europe’s most mysterious and seductive city.

Venice Revealed (2009)

Here, the pale Mediterranean light reveals cityscapes as painted by Canaletto and Guardi, modern voices revive the soaring spirituality of Vivaldi’s hymns, and Venetians still don disguises to revel and role-play at Carnival. Exploring private palazzos, magnificent churches, and winding alleyways, Ackroyd also discovers the truth beneath the artifice, where beauty masks terminal decay. He interviews preservationists now working desperately to rescue the city’s treasures from the ravages of time and the sea. Always a perceptive critic and spellbinding storyteller, Ackroyd serves as the perfect guide for an unforgettable journey.

Venice Revealed (2009)

An award-winning novelist and bestselling historian, Peter Ackroyd (London: The Biography) has written over 30 books and presented many TV documentaries. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.