La Strada

8½, La Dolce Vita, Nights of Cabrina etc, with movies of that height under his belt, Federico Fellini is of course one of if not cinema's greatest maestro and I feel that title is even more earned and suited with today's film, his 1954 effort, La Strada. The film stars Fellini's wife and muse Giulietta Masina as the native young woman, Gelsomina who is purchased from her impoverished mother by a harsh circus strongman Zampanò )played by Anthony Quinn) to be his wife and partner, together they travel town to town performing acts and slowly both of them starts to clash, with Gelsomina's innocent and bright personality not blending well with Zampanò's cold and uncaring character, but she loyally pressed on and endures his abuse and neglect until things gets more conflicted for the both of them when Gelsomina meets the carefree fool Il Matto (played by Richard Basehart) who Zampanò hates, soon with the kindness Il Matto shows to Gelsomina she starts to contemplate leaving Zampanò which starts to slowly reveal hidden layers of Zampanò. How can I describe La Strada, it's a masterpiece of emotion and cinema's overwhelming power! I normally don't cry with a lot of movies with only a few managing to even shed a tear out of me but this film got me crying at many points during its 115 minute runtime and I credit that to Fellini's direction and script but ultimately to the performances, especially from Giulietta Masina! Like all the best actors, she can effortlessly make you feel moved and touched with only a few seconds! Either its one glance or one look or even a single shot, she just makes you feel so much with so little time or seconds so imagined how much more overwhelmling her performance is when we include the rest of that runtime. it is one hell of a incredible performance! She makes you sad, happy, moved, depressed, laugh, emphasizes, angry and everything in between! Never have I seen a film where the character literally feel so alive that I believe they are just in reach of my hand. The other actors did a amazing job as well with Anthony Quinn bringing in an excellent, threading and uncompromisingly harsh and cold performance as Zampanò, the way he acts makes you feel as abused and hurt as Gelsomina is but slowly as the film goes on and Zampanò is challenged and start to show his hidden layers, the way its played is really subtle and effective I really loved it, he's intimidating and cruel enough to make us scare of him and able to relate to and understands Gelsomina but have enough development and moment of genuine careness (especially during the third act) that we do feel bad for him by the end. Richard Basehart was great as well as the clown ish Il Matto, the role is pretty short and fits more on the supporting category but undeniably he was very fun to watch and his character's moments with Gelsomina is sweet and bring some levity to the film but of course at the end of the day Giulietta Masina stoled the role! She is wonderful, every minute she is wonderful and it's no wonder why she would go on to work with Fellini and becomes his muse, she is a beautiful actress in every way but undoubtedly her performance wouldn't be as good as it is without Fellini and his outstanding script and amazing direction. If you don't know what movie to choose for a new comer to arthouse cinema La Strada is actually a great one to start with because of the pacing, I feel its the best pacing of any of Fellini's works (that I have seen so far), La Dolce Vita is amazing but admittedly its 3 hour runtime can get slow and aimless at times, 8½ has a pretty good pace but still suffers from feeling a little loose but La Strada is nearly flawless when it comes to pacing and runtime. It flows nicely and when things starts to get a little slow the film immediately picks up and becomes even more engaging and riveting then before. That's how I would describe the script, it's nearly flawless and everything about it is just profounding! The direction from Fellini is really great and pleasing to watch, a lot of beautiful and haunting moments throughout that is just unforgettable! The way everything is framed and how it moves makes the film feel more real and like it has a world behind it that when beyond our main characters. I also want to mention Nino Rota as always amazing music, it's not as catchy, stylized or memorable as his works on La Dolce Vita and especially 8½ but undoubtedly it's still beautiful music that is greatly used throughout and along with Giulietta's performance and Fellini's script you just can't have without. La Strada is absolutely profounding and beautiful in every way possible. It's a testament to what cinema can do and what it can provoke in you! Fellini yet again really out did himself with this one, its endlessly hauntingly fascinating and beautiful. Highly recommend to everyone, this motion picture is beyond words but perfectly fits what cinema can be at its very finest!