UMBERTO D (95)

Directed by: Vittorio de Sica (1953)

Starring: Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio

The Pitch: An old man, alone except for his dog, tries desperately to make ends meet in post-war Italy.

Theo Sez: A cautionary tale : I first watched this famous movie a couple of years ago, and was disappointed - it seemed one of those films you admire rather than enjoy, without enough going on to give its protagonist's plight much emotional force. I don't know what's changed since - maybe I'm just watching more crap these days, so I'm more appreciative of this kind of limpid, unhurried gracefulness ; or maybe it's just necessary to know in advance that no "big" narrative stuff is going to happen - just the miraculous "small" stuff. At any rate, second viewing blew me away so completely it would take a whole essay to do it justice. Where to begin? The long, lovely, real-time sequence of Maria in the kitchen, boiling water and grinding coffee, still groggy with sleep, the camera observing every detail? The unknown old man with the big peasant moustache loitering unhappily in the dog-pound, thinking about whether he can afford to save his dog from death (we never do find out his decision)? The girl's perfectly calm face, like a clear pool of water, as she listens, or goes about her morning routine, or talks of her two lovers? The fact that Umberto is not wise and venerable but a flawed, often foolish old man? Most of all, perhaps, the wondrous simplicity of the moment when Umberto looks out his window after a long, fruitless day of trying to raise money, every avenue apparently closed - and the camera cranes ever so slightly towards the cobblestones below, to suggest the first faint glimmer of suicidal feelings. Bottom line : I like flamboyant "cinematic" style as much as the next man (maybe even as much as the next boy), but this 50s equivalent of TV documentary is my idea of a great movie. (And the moral of the story? As David Mamet almost put it : "Films change").