From such films as <EM>La Dolce Vita</EM> and <EM>Bicycle Thieves</EM> to <EM>Cinema Paradiso</EM> and <EM>Dear Diary</EM> Italian cinema has provided striking images of Italy as a nation and a people. In the first comprehensive study of Italian cinema from 1886-1996 Pierre Sorlin explores the changing relationship of Italian cinema and Italian society and asks whether the national cinema really does represent Italian interests and culture.