This paper offers close critical readings of three landmark European films from the 1950s: Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954), Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D (1952), and Robert Bresson's Pickpocket (1959). The reviews examine each director's distinctive visual language, thematic concerns, and cinematic techniques. Topics include Fellini's symbolic storytelling and character juxtaposition, De Sica's neorealist use of non-professional actors and socially resonant themes of aging and indifference, and Bresson's morality-driven narration and rhythmic editing. Together, the three reviews illuminate the richness and variety of mid-century European art cinema.
La Strada (1954), directed by Federico Fellini, produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti, 104 minutes, Italian, B&W.
In the genre of modern comedy-tragedy, Fellini's La Strada must be counted among the classics. Briefly, a naïve young woman is sold to a brutish man and travels the road as part of his itinerant show. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1956, with music by Nino Rota (later of Godfather fame), and starred Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, and Giulietta Masina. Can there ever be a more expression-filled face than the one Masina presents — the sad, clown-like eyes, the moppy hair, and beneath the sadness, an irreverent anticipation?
The direction was masterful, anticipating the long, dusty roads the two characters travel — to nowhere, ultimately. The juxtaposition between the two characters, even in the way they are filmed, is what draws the audience inside the scene. Without a word of dialogue, Giulietta Masina is pure poetry: Fellini's camera moves in close to catch the small tremble of a lip, a hint of a tear without crying, or a stutter in her voice when she winces, anticipating a blow. For Quinn's character, on the other hand, shots are framed against solid objects — clearly marking the film's physical reference point as opposed to Masina's emotional one.
What proves most masterful, however, is the camera's concentration on the budding intimacy between the characters — the adventure of compassion beneath the outward brutality. Symbols abound: the charged emotion surrounding the theft from a church, the contrast between the dangers of the city and the dangers of the tightrope, the persistent sense of wondering what will happen next. The film's antics are far less zany than they are simply comic reality. La Strada does not spoon-feed the viewer. Instead, it demands a first viewing, some research, a second viewing, and several days of digestion before the "aha" moments arrive — that is what Fellini meant. It is cinema at its most charming: not made for the masses, yet accessible enough that its release on Netflix has found it doing well.
Umberto D (1952), directed by Vittorio De Sica, produced by Giuseppe Amato and Angelo Rizzoli, 89 minutes, Italian, B&W.
A neorealist film using non-professional actors, Umberto D tells the story of Umberto Domenico Ferrari, an old man in Rome desperately trying to keep his lodgings on a small state pension. His landlady, however, has other plans: she wants to drive him out and modernize to suit what she perceives as her desired lifestyle. Unable to find the money he needs, or a place for his beloved dog Flike, Umberto decides to end it all by walking in front of a train. At the last moment the dog breaks free, and in a heartfelt scene regains both his companion's trust and the old man's will to live.
Even without subtitles the film is easy to follow, filled with subtle symbols, and above all hyper-realistic in technique, acting, and even in the manner in which the camera tracks the characters differently as their situations change. When following Umberto, the camera angle is bent and halting; during scenes of vibrant Roman street life, it is steady and open.
"Themes of aging, social coldness, and cultural context"
"Narration style, morality theme, and editing rhythm"
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