Il cammino della speranza – The Path of Hope (Pietro Germi – 1950)

Right from the opening scene where you see the village women all veiled in black waiting patiently outside the mine for their husbands who refuse to come up to avoid the mine closing – you see direct similarities with another Nerorealism harbinger – Visconti’s 1948 La terra trema (The Earth Trembles). In the latter, the black… Continue reading Il cammino della speranza – The Path of Hope (Pietro Germi – 1950)

In nome della legge – In the Name of the Law (Pietro Germi – 1949)

New magistrate arrives, and old one departs It usually happens when a new guy, typically from the north, but in this case from the Sicilian capital, arrives to the wild South in effort to instill some law and order and the local backlash it creates. We have already seen this formula in action in many… Continue reading In nome della legge – In the Name of the Law (Pietro Germi – 1949)

Seduced and Abandoned – Sedotta e abbandonata (Pietro Germi – 1964)

When you think about what makes a film a masterpiece, beyond the usual suspects like clever script, believable acting or memorable soundtrack – what I believe worked extremely well for post-war Italian cinema is the historical context. For the neorealism genre it supplied ample stories of hardships told by non-professional actors in actual locations with… Continue reading Seduced and Abandoned – Sedotta e abbandonata (Pietro Germi – 1964)