Review of La Strada (1954) by Asen B — 06 Jun 2011

There it is: the role Giulietta was born to play - the Chaplin-esque waif that implacably breaks our hearts at the end, due to the mismatch between purity and brutishness which collide in a twist of faith during the desolation of a winter.

One of Fellini's best and simplest masterpieces, from an era when he had retained all the simplicity you need to invoke to create something wrenching without resorting to cheap melodrama or stylistic pomp.

Anthony is just what he ought to be, while Nino Rota's melody underlines the tragic circusmtances to create a haunting undertone to the dauntless characters en route to their doom: as the brute sits on the beach, staring into the wordless sea, Fellini's triumph of elements creates history.

Or at least something America can never produce.