La Strada

Star Review

La Strada is the first film in which Fellini began to drift from his neorealist heritage toward the realm of cinematic poetry. Released at a time when filmic neorealism was in decline as an aesthetic credo in Italy, the film was attacked by left-wing critics as a flagrant betrayal of a movement on the verge of deep crisis. The film can now be considered, together with Fellini’s two subsequent films Il Bidone (1955) and Le Notti di Cabiria (1957), as part of an informal trilogy on spiritual poverty and the quest for grace and salvation.
The film’s title – ‘The Road’ – reflects the picaresque, endearingly ramshackle and non-linear structure employed by Fellini to chronicle the story of Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) who is sold into virtual slavery by her mother to play clown to brash strongman Zampanò (Anthony Quinn). It is through the naïve, trusting eyes of Gelsomina, (a heart-rending performance by Masina) that Fellini observes the world. Through his writings - as well as his wonderful drawings and cartoons - the director appears to be enamoured with the tragic-comic figure of Gelsomina, with Masina as the perfect embodiment of the ‘actress-clown’ or ‘clowness’. Whilst admitting that many actors could find such a description belittling, Fellini argues the opposite, that the ‘clownish’ talent of an actor shows an ‘aristocratic’ dedication to scenic art.
After Lo Sceicco Bianco (1951) and I Vitelloni (1953), La Strada was the third collaboration between Fellini and composer Nino Rota who provided one of his most moving themes. As with all Fellini-Rota collaborations, the music is a unique, essential and inextricable part of the fabric of the film.
Cementing Fellini’s international reputation by winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1955, La Strada certainly occupies a vital position not only in Fellini’s forty-year career in the cinema but also in the history of Italian cinema as a whole.

Pasquale Iannone on 19th May 2005

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Film Description

The film that established Fellini as one of the leading lights of European cinema. The metaphor of a journey is used to explore his theme of the search for meaning and purpose in life. Starring Fellini's wife Giulietta Massina in an amazingly moving performance as the simple, kind-hearted woman roped along to help Zampano's strong man act, it is one of his most abiding masterpieces.

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Fellini's celebrated film is the highly affecting tale of two travelling circus performers and was the first ever to be awarded an Oscar in the category of Best Foreig... more >

Fellini's celebrated film is the highly affecting tale of two travelling circus performers and was the first ever to be awarded an Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Film. Looking for an assistant, brutish circus strong man Zampano (Anthony Quinn) buys the innocent Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) from her impoverished mother and the pair takes to the road with a travelling circus. Life with Zampano is violent and unpredictable and when Gelsomina falls in love with a high-wire artist (Richard Basehart), Zampano's volcanic temper erupts with tragic consequences. Characteristically mingling elements of biography with metaphor and symbolism, La Strada combines an easygoing charm with a hard-edged realism. Masina (Fellini's wife until his death) is astonishing in the central role and the evocative Nina Rota score and Otello Martelli's ravishing photography make La Strada unforgettable. Special Features are plentiful. < less

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DVD Extras

• Remastered print
• Audio Commentary on selected scenes by Christopher Wiegand
• Giulietta Masina: The Power of a Smile Documentary
• Booklet
• Art Card.

Film Details

Cast

Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina

Technical Details