New Module

        

      Last week, my language course at the University of Salford started a new module which consisted of Foreign Films - called 'Europe on Screen'. The purpose of the course is to gain an insight into the history and also the contemporary society of France, Germany, Italy and Spain through the medium of contemporary films.

The films for the French aspect of the course are 'La Haine' (Hate) and 'Amelie' - both giving an interesting insight into the French society as it is now, both from very different angles. 'La Haine' portrays society in France to be very segregated, the struggle for integration in a suburban area between ethnic groups. 'Amelie' however conveys society in a very eccentric style through the rather eccentric character of Amelie. Personally, as I have seen both these films, I must conclude that I much prefer La Haine, the portrayal of suburban racial disturbances and certain groups' struggle for integration and acceptance really interests me. 

For German however, both films focus on the years following the Second World War, the period in which the Berlin Wall stood. The first, 'Das Leben der Anderen' focuses on the 'lives of others' being that of the people in the East and West Germany having an insight into one another's cultures. As is fairly well known, life in the GDR (East Germany) shadowed by the government of the SED (Sozialistiche Einheitspartei Deutschlands) - or Social Unity Party, and that of West Germany. 'Goodbye Lenin' focuses much on the lifestyles of those living on either side, and the effect the 'Deutsche Wiedervereinigung (Reunification of Germany) had on its inhabitants. 

As for the Italian films however, I haven't seen either 'Stanno tutti bene' or 'Cinema Paradiso', so little comment can be made thus far, although I am very much looking forward to watching and studying them. Similarly with the Spanish film, 'Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios' - Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown - I haven't seen it, although I have been informed that it focuses on the shift in the role of  women in Spain and their reaction to this.

I am very much looking forward to the rest of this course and will of course continue to give you readers an update weekly!!