The maestro of movie soundtracks

The documentary screened as part of the Italian Screens Film Festival is a push by the Italian consulate for stronger cultural ties between India and Italy

Bengaluru:

You might not know his name but you have definitely heard the music he has made in classic films like ‘A Fistful of Dollars, Once Upon a Time in America, and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Ennio Morricone is easily one of the best-known Italian exports to World Cinema having composed more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classical works. So it is no surprise that the Italian Consulate picked the documentary Ennio by Giuseppe Tornatore to start their Italian Screens festival in Bangalore.

“Despite being a contemporary film it gives you a detailed understanding of classic Italian cinema through all the major movements in the last 50 years,” says Alfonso Tagliaferri, Consul General of Italy in Bengaluru, while introducing the film. The film documents Ennio’s childhood studying the trumpet at a conservatory in Rome at the insistence of his father and studying composition under the legendary Goffredo Petrassi, whose influence never left him.

Morricone ventured into the world of cinema by composing music for Spaghetti Westerns but it wasn’t until his collaboration with Sergio Leone in the Dollars Trilogy that he made a name for himself composing some of the most iconic music that not just complimented the scenes but raised them to another level altogether. In 1969, he composed music for nearly 30 films that were released that year. His involvement with cinema was looked down upon by the many classical composers he studied with leading to a lifelong inferiority complex despite composing iconic music with every film he was involved in.

An error his contemporaries recognized and apologized for after the release of Once Upon a Time in America, which stands out on its own. The documentary also touches upon the little known aspect of Morricone’s music outside of film where he pushed experimental boundaries with like-minded musicians. His body of work is one that might go down with legendary composers like Beethoven and Bach and he finally had his work recognized by receiving two Oscars by the end of his career despite having been nominated six times before.

The documentary will be screened again at the PVR in Phoenix Market City, Whitefield on October 14 at 8:15 and can be viewed for just Rs. 1. In case you are interested in world cinema, you don’t want to miss this chance to learn more about the life of a maestro.