Lloyd and Harry stop in a restaurant called “Dante’s Inferno” on their way to Colorado.
Contributed by Luke Welsch (Bowdoin, ’08)
Henry Otto, Dante’s Inferno (1924)
Henry Otto directed Dante’s Inferno (1924), a silent film interpretation of the poem.
“The tactics of a vicious slumlord and greedy businessman finally drive a distraught man to commit suicide. The businessman is tried for murder and executed, and is afterward taken by demons to the Hell where he will spend the rest of eternity.” —IMDb
Contributed by Dennis Looney
“Il Postino” (Michael Radford, 1994)
I think that there is a valid connection between Il Postino and Dante… where Mario could be seen as the poet Dante, Beatrice is (unsurprisingly) Beatrice (his inspiration in both contexts), and Pablo Neruda is Virgil, Dante’s (and thus, Mario’s) poetic ‘father’ figure. Also, upon examining the film’s script, there is a direct reference in the scene with Mario and Neruda speaking at the cafe:
Mario: I’m in love, really, really in love.
Neruda: Who are you in love with?
Mario: Her name’s Beatrice.
Neruda: Beatrice. Dante. Dante Alighieri. He fell for a certain Beatrice. Beatrices have inspired boundless love. What are you doing?
Mario: Writing down the name Dante. Dante I know, but Alighieri–
Contributed by Aisha Woodward (Bowdoin, ’08)
“Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (Gore Verbinski, 2003)
“Hannibal” (Ridley Scott, 2001)
“Hannibal is set in Florence where the notorius Hannibal Lecter is posing as a medievalist and Dante scholar. He lectures on the Divine Comedy and recites poetry from the Vita nuova, as well as attends an operatic adaptation of the Vita nuova. Apart from these explicit references to Dante, there is also a sense in which the homicidal methods he employs mirror, contrapasso like, the sins of his victims, all of whom are in some sense bad. The noble folk, Starling and a nurse, are spared, despite HL’s ample oppourtunities to kill them. It is difficult to equate any of the movie’s characters with those of the Divine Comedy, although Lector does in a sense play Virgil to Starling’s pilgrim; but in his role as avenger of evil, serial killer, HL appears more like the wrathful Old Testament God.” –Peter Schwindt
For a compilation of references to Dante in the film, see the post on the website greatdante.net.
Contributed by Peter Schwindt