Feast of the Seven Fishes

Period pieces in Cinema are important as they document a period in time. as long as the production team works diligently to get it right. I found this to be true for a movie I watched recently known as, Feast of the Seven Fishes. 

I watched this quite honestly because I grew up in Central New York in an Italian family celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fishes. I was thinking it would be a cute movie that would bring me back to my youth. It was all that and more. What surprised me about the movie was the director truly captured the dynamics of the Northeast during the early 1980s. It was surprisingly an accurate portrayal of the division among working-class Catholics and white-collar Protestants. Subtle, but it there for us to witness. 

The houses that the Catholics were living in were substandard. However, they managed to make them a home. Rich in traditions that their contemporaries did not have in the affluent neighborhoods. This is told through the eyes of the main character. He is smitten with a young lady from the rich part of town. She is enamored by the traditions of Christmas Eve. Her mother is very wary and concerned with this relationship. The setting is a coal mining town near Philadelphia. This could be any small community in the Northeast back in the early 80s. What struck me as very accurate was the imagery of the homes, and how the director caught a moment in time. I thought I was witnessing my own youth. This is how many small communities were divided 40 years ago.

The other thing that Italian-Americans will appreciate in this movie is the cultural references that have slowly disappeared over the years. The "nonny" is spot on how many grandmothers were that came over from Italy. They only want their kids and grandkids to marry Catholic girls, preferably Italian ones. The wooden spoon references will bring back many fond memories for sure. 

What this movie does very well is to create a time capsule. This movie captures the traditions and culture of a period of time that is unique to the Northeastern United States. Multiple generations of northeastern residents that have moved all over the United States will enjoy this movie, as it honors a time that no longer exists. This is so important as our society changes quickly. Whether you are from the Northeast or not, this is one heck of a film to learn about the Feast of the Seven Fishes, and why it was important so long ago.