La Strada - Criterion Collection

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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

Customer Reviews:

The Road of Life.......2007-08-25

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.

Brilliant and depressing.......2007-08-22

La Strada is ultimately a grim and downbeat tale, but the director Fellini makes you care about the characters involved. Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) is forced to live and work with Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a circus strongman. She lives with Zampano in the back of a small motorcycle trailer, and the conditions are frankly squalid, as are most of the places where they work. 'The Fool' (Richard Basehart) is the fly in the ointment, who attempts to lure Gelsomina away from Zampino with tragic results.

La Strada and Fellini was a huge influence on a number of famous films. 'Godfather II' copies the religious street festival and the ending reminded me of 'The Swimmer'.

The film is in Italian with English subtitles available.

La Strada.......2007-06-26

Legendary Italian director Fellini's early experiences in a circus inspired many of his films, including the sublime "La Strada," one of his most poignant works. This is a melancholy, mythic tale about innocence and forbearance in the face of brute ignorance. Fellini's wife and frequent lead actress, Giulietta Masina, is revelatory as frail, childlike Gelsomina, and the heartbreaking strengths of "La Strada" lie squarely with her.

La Strada.......2007-02-27

I've seen one other film by Federico Fellini (it was 8 1/2) and I saw half of "La Dolce Vita." I know what his films are like, so when I watched "La Strada" I was surprised by what I saw. This film is completely unlike the aforementioned films and, therefore, is probably Fellini's most accessible film. It's a movie that has shades of a much earlier American film called "Broken Blossoms" but with sound and a new storyline, Fellini made a poignant, cute, and sad little film. I didn't even realize how much I liked this film until it was over. Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina plays Gelsomina, a young girl who is bought from her family by Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a strongman. As he travels around the country with her, all the while being brutally mean to her, they eventually end up at a traveling circus where Gelsomina meets The Fool (Richard Basehart), a much nicer, tender man who advises her to leave Zampano. What a perfect name for this character; The Fool. His decisions are foolish and in the end, his fate is that of a fool. The ending of the film is truly a fantastic, very well acted moment. "La Strada" seems to take direct inspiration from several things. The storyline is inspired by "Broken Blossoms" and the character of Gelsomina seems inspired by The Tramp, that is the character created by Charlie Chaplin. She's a half-wit, not very pretty, and seems to hate Zampano. Yet everytime she's given the opportunity to escape, she declines. This movie was made during the heyday of Italian neo-realism and Fellini went against convention by casting two American actors in the film (both actors dubbed a soundtrack in English, available on this DVD. I recommend you watch the Italian film though, because a dubbed Fellini film ruins the magic). Probably the most inspired casting decision in the film is Masina. I'm not very fond of when director's work with their wives, because the wife is usually in the movie solely because she's the wife (see Guy Ritchie's remake of "Swept Away" for proof). I can't imagine another actress portraying Gelsomina. She brings just the right amount of sadness, innocence, and playfulness to the character. Even if you're not fond of Fellini (although, if you're reading this, you probably are) I recommend that you see this film as it has a completely different mood and feel to it than his other films do. Even if you don't particularly want to see the movie, you can think of it as seeing a little piece of history (this film was the first to win the Best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards). The Criterion Collection has done a superb, flawless transfer of the DVD.

GRADE: A-

We all travel that road!.......2007-01-17

****This review may contain spoilers!****
This film is incredibly moving,disturbing and heart-breaking. The pathos may be matched by a small handful of films, but I cannot for the life of me think of one single film that tops it. It beautifully illustrates the story of a sincere,yet simple-minded burly man who knows that he seeks love,but does not have the sophistication to express it in words so finds his only recourse is to lash out,(it seems),at the woman he loves. He lashes out more at his own ineffectuality but does not know that himself.The pathos comes in because love is so new and unfamiliar that it makes him feel vulnerable,which is very frightening to his sense of masculinity. This film is operating on so many levels at once that it must be viewed at least 2 or 3 times to dredge all the gold from the many-layered conflicts going on with all 3 of the main characters. The death of the Fool is so unexpected by Zampano,(if no one else), that he finds himself trapped in the consequences of an unintended act meted out,(he felt), to level justice AS HE SAW IT. As a witness to his crime, and with her inability to move through what has occurred and go on, it causes Gelsomina to constantly remind Zampano what he has done. This, plus he must see how HIS actions have not only ended one life, but is slowly but surely destroying the bright light of joy which once existed in the one he loves until the only way he can end the pain of the truth,(as he sees it), is to abandon the best thing in his unrewarding life. When he hears the familiar song that Gelsomina used to play on her trumpet being hummed by a woman hanging the laundry and so inquires, only to find out that she died of exposure with a broken heart due to his leaving her, in the final scene it all comes home as he realises he had the brass ring and didn't even know it and as he lets out his doleful cry on the beach at night WE feel his pain right along with him as though WE TOO have lost something very dear. The way Fellini stalled the realization to the very end,(whether intended or not),so pulled the rug out from under me that I actually bawled like a baby for 10 minutes at the end of the movie and felt so helpless that the only thing I felt I could do to come out of the morass I had fallen into was to hug my wife for dear life and pray to God that I would NEVER lose sight of the treasures in my own life while foolishly chasing some rainbow or worrying about maintaining an image at the expense of everything that gives that image its substance. This film has the ability,if one is ready for it, to change your life! Bravo Fellini!

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