Movies: La Strada

...you will watch Federico Fellini's La Strada.

This film is so simple and charming that it borders on parable, myth, or even fairy tale. It's the simple story of a simple and somewhat dim Italian peasant girl named Gelsomina (played by Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina) who is sold into servitude to the swarthy, brutish strongman Zampano (the great Anthony Quinn). Together the two travel the Italian countryside performing their circus act in small towns and villages. Despite Zampano's cruel and insensitive treatment, Gelsomina soon finds herself in love with him. All of this is complicated by Zampano's fierce rivalry with a fellow performer named Il Matto (The Fool, played by Richard Basehart), who teaches Gelsomina that everything, even the smallest stone, has a purpose in the universe.

The film won the first Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957

The result is Fellini's most accessible and most poignant film. Make no mistake though, this is Fellini in his prime, his style already clearly developed. The circus elements are in place, as is the whimsical mix of Italian rural life and the absurd. This is all complimented beautifully by Nino Rota's haunting score: one simple tune, Gelsomina's theme, that sounds both carnivalesque and melancholy and various points in the film. Indeed, the song itself becomes a key plot point in the film. Fellini's direction here is less forced and more in keeping with his neorealist roots. He presents each scene to us in a simple manner, without the pomp and circumstance that would come to dominate many of his later films.



The true heart and soul of this film is Masina herself. There are few faces in cinema quite like hers. She is at the same time plain and extraordinary, comedic and tragic. Her performance here is reminiscent of Chaplin's Tramp in that she seldom speaks, using only her exquisite expressions to convey her subtle changes in emotion. When Zampano is kind to her she beams radiantly with a smile that warms the heart and dark, twinkling eyes. When she is sad her eyelids droop heavily and her smile turns into a trembling pout. Her wondrous expressions are only accented during the scenes in which Masina is in full clown makeup. Indeed, Masina's face is both that of a clown and a child. It's a performance that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Gelsomina is one of the most sympathetic characters ever to be seen on screen. Her connection to both children and animals borders on the divine. Despite her quirks and her inability to communicate properly with most people, we can't help but love her childlike nature and raw humanity.

For all my musical queens out there, you might be interested to know that Masina also starred in Nights of Cabiria, where she played the ever-positive prostitute Cabiria, always on the lookout for love. The broadway musical Sweet Charity was based upon this film.

While I don't want to give too much away, I should tell you that La Strada is most definitely a tragi-comic film. There are many lighthearted moments that are generated from the relationship between Gelsomina and Zampano, especially early on, but as the film progresses and our empathy with Gelsomina grows, the film becomes increasingly sad. By the end, even the most cynical among us (like yours truly) will find it difficult to hold back the tears.

If this film doesn't tug at your heart strings then absolutely nothing will.

Oh, and if you have issues with reading subtitles or watching black and white films, then you need to seriously re-evaluate what you perceive as your intelligence.