La Strada (1956)

Considered by many to be Federico Fellini's most beautiful and powerful film, La Strada was the first film to reveal the range of Guilietta Masina, whose poignant performance as the childlike Gelsomina recalls Chaplin's Little Tramp. The bubbly, waiflike Gelsomina is a simpleton sold to the gruff, bullying circus strongman Zampanò (Anthony Quinn) as a servant and assistant. Treated no better than an animal, Gelsomina nonetheless falls in love with the brute Zampanò. When they join a small circus they meet Il Matto (Richard Basehart), a clown who enchants Gelsomina and relentlessly taunts Zampanò, whose inability to control his hatred of Il Matto (literally, "the Fool") leads to their expulsion from the circus and eventually to the film's fateful conclusion. Masina is heartbreaking as the wide-eyed innocent, whose generous spirit and love of life leads her to try to "save" Quinn's unfeeling, brutal Zampanò. Though the film resonates with mythic and biblical dimensions, Fellini never loses sight of his characters, lovingly painted in all their frailties and failings. Fellini's lyrical style reaches back to the simple beauty of his neorealist films and looks ahead to the impressionistic fantasies of later films, but at this unique period in Fellini's career, they combine to create a poetic, tragic masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com essential video

another amateur throws his hat in the ring

I feel too small to do this but its by way of tribute. When Mr. Fellini made this film, Europe was still recovering from the war. But, most importantly, from the great challenge that Hitler and Facism had posed to human existance: that anyone who did not contribute something to society did not have a right to live. With this film Mr. Fellini masterfully answers this challenge, exposing it for the lie that it is. "Il Matto" put the answer into words when consoling the heart broken Gelsomina. She felt she was worthless but he explains that,of course she has worth because she is a creature of God and He has a purpose for her. What purpose? she asks the clown, to which he deftly answers that if he knew that he would be God. Yet Mr. Fellini dares to answer what the clown could not by making us love each of the characters, even the brutal Zampano. This is a victorious film. It declares in inarguable terms that our worth is not a result of wealth or what service we render to society but of the love of God. The fact that many, even "macho" types, are moved to tears, mourning over these loved ones, demonstrates the truth of what Mr. Fellini has conveyed in "La Strada". December 11, 2008

Good early Fellini

Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini's 1954 black and white film La Strada (The Road) is one of those films that is midway between his early Neo-Realism and his later Magical Realism, with touches of both aplenty. It made both him and its female lead, his wife Giulieta Masina, stars, won the 1954 Venice Film Festival's top award and the 1956 Best Foreign Picture Academy Award, yet there is something missing from it. It is a good film, arguably a very good or near-great film, but it is definitely not a great film. It lacks the intellectual and artistic depth that the couple's next famed collaboration, Nights Of Cabiria, three years later, would have. In a sense, those critics who have called it a simple fable are correct, but even the greatest of fables cannot compare with the greatest of novels, especially those modern masterpieces, for a novel takes an in-depth 360° spin around life, and within life, whereas fables and this film often rely too strongly on archetypes, schmaltz, and sentimentality. It is not a reworking of The Beauty And The Beast tale, either, for it's not really a love story, but a loveless story, in the sense of the human denial of love. Granted, it's a mark of Fellini's consummate filmic skill that one is so easily emotionally manipulated, to the point that most viewers even care about the wretched Zampano at the film's end. But, mastering puppetry is not the same as producing good art. If it was the old Lassie American tv shows from the 1950s and 1960s would be right alongside The Odyssey and Guernica in the pantheon of great human artworks. Yet, Fellini is so great a filmmaker that even where his art is not top notch it can inspire admiration for its excellence.... The story the film tells, penned by Fellini and his long time collaborator Tullio Pinelli, is first rate, even as it comes awfully close to syrupy, while the black and white cinematography by Otelo Martelli is solid. La Strada is not a visual feast for the eyes, and some mat shots as the pair drive around in their wagon date the film, even as they are better than the techniques that filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock were using in America. But, the film is renowned most for the film score by Nino Rota, and the theme for Gelsomina that, even millions who've never heard of, much less seen, La Strada, will know from just a few bars. Yet, it does not hold up as well as other, later Fellini films, to a modern eye. It does have more in common with 1940s Hollywood films than many critics would like to admit, especially in the screenplay and scoring aspects that link it back to the social realism of 1930s American studio films- those starring a James Cagney or John Garfield.
Still, given it's Fellini, it's much better than many other films ever made, for there are those moments one can only get in a Fellini film, just like Ingmar Bergman can only give you psychosexual angst at such a high and poetic level. With Fellini, it's those absurd moments that just stay within realistic bounds, like Gelsomina seeing a horse loudly clomping down a city street while alone and waiting for Zamapano to come back after a night with a whore, or seeing three country musicians marching by after she runs away from Zampano and is fascinated by an anthill, or her evocative theme song, first played on The Fool's mini-violin, or the oddly poetic and comic poof of a cloud that explodes from The Fool's inexplicably fiery car after Zampano pushes it off the road, into a ravine, after he kills the man. These are the touches that, even when a great artist is not in top form, separate that artist from all the many pretenders. Fellini was no pretender- he was the real thing, and La Strada is a very good film. But it was an even better augur.
September 14, 2008

"What a funny face! Are you a woman, really? Or an artichoke?"

The face in question belongs to the enchanting Giulietta Masina. And the movie is LA STRADA (1954), director Federico Fellini's haunting tale about the strange relationship between an innocent young waif and the boorish circus performer who takes her under his wing.

LA STRADA ("The Road") is one of the watershed movies of Italian cinema, and also launched the international careers of director Federico Fellini and his actress wife Giulietta Masina in the process. Amongst many accolades, the movie walked away with the 1956 Academy Award for 'Best Foreign Language Film'.

The story is one of the most haunting, heartbreaking ones you'll ever encounter; it will remain in your soul long after the credits have rolled. A charming, somewhat backward waif named Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) is plucked from her carefree family home on the seashore and placed into the employment of Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a vagabond circus strong-man. Complications arise when Zampano's old adversary, a highwire artist named 'The Fool' (Richard Basehart) returns to the scene. What follows will prove fateful for the trio...

The heartrending performance of Giulietta Masina is pure perfection. Every glance, facial expression, physical gesture shows us exactly what is happening inside the head and heart of this most magical, haunting screen character. The audience goes along for the same emotional ride that the character of Gelsomina does. Federico Fellini fashioned this film as a showcase for his talented wife. Acclaimed performances in "Nights of Cabiria" and "Juliet of the Spirits" would follow in later years, and while Masina was always superbly good in anything she did, LA STRADA was and forever will be her best ever screen performance.

Zampano is a totally unsavoury character and the audience is never meant to find any kind of sympathy toward him. The most challenging, thankless assignment for any actor is to play such a character, but Anthony Quinn delivers what he can given the limits of the material. Richard Basehart is a lovely presence as 'The Fool', one of the lone adult characters who actually seems to care for the neglected Gelsomina. The musical score by Nino Rota is likewise so very haunting, particularly "Gelsomina's Theme" which recurs throughout the second half of the film.

If you want a film which illustrates--so movingly--the sheer joy and heartbreak of simply being alive, you must see LA STRADA. I guarantee you'll never be the same... June 29, 2008

Thin, slow and boring...

Italian film with English Subtitles set in 1950's. A quirky young girl (Gelsomina) lives with her Mother and 4 siblings in poverty. She is sold by her Mother to a traveling strong man performer (Zampano). Zampano is a man of few words - he is cold, cruel, a brute, a womanizer and a hard drinker in his time off. He roughly trains Gelsomina to be is assistant and she learns how to play a drum and trumpet. She is small, delicate and "imp-like" spirit - seeing the beauty and optimism in all things. Along their journey they run into a Fool which teaches Gelsomina why she was brought to be with Zampano. Zampano ends up breaking Gelsomina's spirit and lives to regret it.

The movie is beautifully set with Italian oceans, vistas and city centers. Gelsomina is captivating in her role. However, I found the story to be slow and boring - and the characters to be shallow and underdeveloped. The film wasn't for me.

June 13, 2008

The Road of Life

She's simple and innocent. He's a cunning brute. He buys her from her own mother and turns her into his personal servant, mattress and partner. He's a strongman and her makes her bang a drum and play a clown. He acts like an animal and treats her like one. Everyone keeps asking why she won't leave him. She never says why. Such a simple story and so profound and moving, sad and touching. Fellini's first unqualified masterpiece explores ideas of lonliness, humanity and belonging. August 25, 2007

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