La Strada

Have said it before, this dvd came to the house, have no idea how I selected an Italian movie.  Probably because Netflix made the suggestion when I chose The Lives of Others.  As it turned out, lucky for me.
Directed by Frederico Fellini who assisted TullioPinelli in the writing of the sparse but deep story.
Produced by two men well known in America, Dino De Laurentiis who at 90 is still out there working, and Carlo Ponti who passed 3 years ago but earned my respect by marrying Sophia Loren.
The actors were a mix of Americans and Italians...

• Anthony Quinn plays the abusive brutish Zampanò, circus strongman. 
• Giulietta Masina plays Gelsomina, the fated heroine of the movie, a adled young woman with a natural flair for theatrics. In real life Masina was Fellini's wife.
• Richard Basehart as Il Matto, "The Fool", Zampanò's antogonist who specializes as a high wire walker and clownish charcter.

The plot is simple enough but draws you in completely by the by the end.  Living with her poor mother and younger sisters in a nut on a deserted beach, Gelsomina is sold, for about $20.00, by her mother to Zampanò, for the purpose of serving as the itinerant strongman's assitant.  In that exchange we learn that Rosa, Gelsomina's older sister was Zampanò's previous assistant, and has mysteriously died. By the end of the story, you come to imagine that Rosa came to an awful end at the hands of the brutish man. The pair travel the roads of Italy, in a three wheeled motorcycle that has a tent, moving from town to town.  In that time Gelsomina becomes the better performer, having a talent for entertainment, she is a natural clown in expression of both happiness and sadness. Zampanò in his animalistic manner eventually rapes Gelsomina, who playing the clown in real life acts out with mixed emotions.  These mixed emotions come to be affection, which of course is not recognized by by the chauvanistic Zampanò.  He in his punishing manner ignores her growing affection and hooks up with a protitute and later a work worn cook. 

The travels bring the couple to a ad-hoc circus outside of Rome. Here we meet the amusing talented wire walker Il Matto.  By way of previous dealings between Il Matto, Zampanò and the deceased Rosa, there is very bad blood between the two men.  This brews into fisticuffs causing both men to be expelled from the circus. 

Back on the road the couple of Gelsomina and Zampanò are working their act as before.  Their travels bring them across Il Matto whose auto has a flat tire.  Minor fisticuffs begin again, in which the clown head was hit on the car.  He takes a few steps and dies.  Zampanò then moves the body and stages the death like it was a car accident.  This course of action drives the simple Gelsomina into a deep depression.  Over the next couple of weeks she has stopped acting during Zampanò's chain breaking act.  Travelling into the Italian Alps the couple stops near a snow covered deserted house.  Gelsomaina comes out of the motorcycle tent and shows some improved perkiness, which is immediately brought down by comments Zampanò makes about Il Matto.  She then goes to sleep by the fire. 

Zampanò in is constant self-absorbed mode, sees and opportunity and sneaks off by puching the motorcycle without starting.  The next scene is at another beach and we see Zampanò as visibly older and lacksidasically

going through the same old chain act.  Later walking through town, Zampanò hears a hummed tune that was Gelsomina's favorite creation.  He questions the lady that was humming the tune and learns that 4 or 5 years ago a vagabond woman had been in town, and sickly stayed with her family.  As thanks and in appreciation for her care she had often played her trumpet to the family.  Unfortunately she had died without leaving any indication of who to inform.  Later that night Zampanò gets obscenely drunk, walks out onto the beach and breaks down, realizing that he missed on a woman that loved him.

The scene is famous for its lack dialog and music.

The entire movie was scored by Nino Rota who also did The Godfather.

I give this movie a rating of 46 of 50. This movie won the 1957 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film, so I guess other people liked it too. Get it, watch it.

• Character Development, 10 of 10.
• Screenplay, 8 of 10.
• Acting, 9 of 10. Both Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart in the best roles of their lives.
• Photography, 9 of 10. Italian neo-realism perfected.
• Plot, 10 of 10.

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