FILM

La Strada

directed by Federico Fellini, 1954

at the Brattle theatre

through October 28

Gelsomina's (Guilietta Masina) sister Rosa has already died on the road with Zampano's (Anthony Quinn) one-man travelling show when "La Strada begins." Needing another assistant, Zampano returns to Rosa's village where the girls' mother agrees to sell Gelsomina to Zampano also, in exchange for 10,000 lire. The other children are going hungry and Gelsomina herself is regarded as somewhat worthless; she is exceedingly timid and does no work to help the family. If this exchange seems somewhat coldhearted, it only hints at the treatment Gelsomina will receive throughout the rest of the film.

Zampano is a bully at best. He calls himself an artist, but really he is nothing but a circus sideshow performer. He works by himself, travelling from town to town and breaking iron chains with his chest muscles. Gelsomina rides in the motorcycle's sidecar and keeps house for Zampano. He also trains her to blow a trumpet and give the drum roll which announce his presence on stage. He beats her with a switch and curses at her until she gets it right.

Guilietta Masina is charming as the wide eyed Gelsomina, who seems unable to get angry over others' cruelty to her. Masina's Gelsomina gazes at the world with wonder, although there can be little wonderful about its realities for her. Fellini offsets her timidity, which practically amounts to a social stupidity, against her purity of spirit. The combination gives her a childlike, saintly aura.

Quinn imbues his character with a gruff machismo. Zampano is a bold ladies' man, stupid and violent. He would frighten the people around him more if he didn't seem so ill-fated. Rarely is he effective in venting his desires or angers. This doesn't stop him from posturing as a refined man in hand medown-suits. Nor does it stop him from bullying everybody but paying customers. In fact, his apparent awareness of his own crudeness only increases his need to and pleasure in commanding Gelsomina, beating her and boasting about "how he taught her everything she knows."

Their life together meets a fateful disruption when they arrive in Rome and join up with a tent circus group at the edge of town. Here Gelsomina meets "The Fool" (Richard Basehart), player of the world's smallest violin. The Fool has a gentle poetic nature, and falls for Gelsomina immediately. She is so shocked that someone is being kind to her that she walks into the doorpost. But The Fool and Zampano have an old rivalry that will not die. Gelsomina blindly loves Zampano. However, she also loves The Fool. How this triangle finally resolves itself and what happens to Gelsomina afterwards is a tragic love story. It is also a spiritual and humanist allegory about loneliness, faith and kindness.

The film won the 1954 Oscar award for Best Foreign Film. In addition to suberb acting. "La Strada" is visually stunning. Fellini uses warm sepia-washed black and white film throughout, and alternates between a soft and hard focus lense filter. Very rarely does he use either pure black or white. In a Bergmanesque fashion, he places the camera strategically to strengthen the film's allegorical strains. Gelsomina is always seen from slightly above, as if she were being watched by a guardian angel. During an Easter parade the camera looks upwards, circling around the massive crosses to emphasize their grandeur. Fellini then once again switches to following Gelsomina's passage through the crowd from above, placing her frailty in relation to God's looming presence. Often the viewer feels a sort of detached sadness constructed by the camera's eye. The montage of images follows the characters' soul-searching hauntingly. Fellini alternates this scrutinizing view of humanity with wide-angle sweeps of the Italian landscape. Windswept clouds and field lend a barren quality to the story's background. The effects are mesmerizing.

Whether you are a film student, an aspiring filmaker or simply a fan of old movies, you will be captivated by this beautiful, chilling, story.