Dante: The First Renaissance Man

Malcolm Hossick's documentary offers a rich cultural introduction to the life and times of Dante Alighieri. Born in 1265, Dante was a poet, ambassador, scholar, and fierce defender of his Italian city-state home of Florence (where a protracted battle for control played out between secular and papist powers). The Church of Rome was the preeminent authority in Italy—amassing power and wealth for its rulers while suppressing individuality and anti-doctrinal thought in common people—until the arrival of the Renaissance period that saw the rediscovery of pre-Christian writings from the Greeks (Plato, Aristotle, etc.) and Romans (Virgil, Ovid, etc.), works that focused on ordinary human experience and expression. Caught up in the fight for the soul of Florence, Dante was exiled forever from his birthplace, although not before writing La Vita Nuova, his unique contribution to the genre of unrequited love poetry. Dante eventually found patronage in Verona and began work on what would become his masterpiece, the three-part epic poem trilogy The Divine Comedy, pointedly written in Italian rather than the more customary Latin. Combining insightful narration, location filming, and period artwork and illustrations, this guided tour offers a fine overview of a titan of world literature. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)