Review of La Strada (1954) by Grayson D — 16 Mar 2011

Fellini created so many masterpieces, each of which are different and perfect for their own reasons. Giulietta Masina play a woman, who is really a young girl, that is forced to go on the road with a rough older man because her sister has passed away. The plot is thin because Fellini would rather us watch what the transformation of this pure, innocent, and immature woman. She has never seen what it's like outside of her town. Everything was done by her mother, so she really doesn't know how to take care of herself. Giulietta's face can make the audience cringe every time she loses a piece of who she was. Zampano decides one night that he is going to have sex with Gelsomina, and when it's over we can only feel a gut wrenching sadness for her. At first she looks like she doesn't know how to feel. But as the seconds pass we see a smile come about her face as she lays back down. We know better than she does; that guy was just using her for her body. She, on the other hand, is hoping she just made love for the first time. The rest of the film follows this poor girl as she witnesses the world from the road. Zampano cheats on her, he slaps her around, he steals from nuns, etc. Gelsomina runs away one night to see The Fool performing on the tight rope and has a moment with him. They meet up with a group of performers later and she sees The Fool once again and learns that Zampano hates him. The Fool wants to work with Gelsomina, but Zampano refuses to let her. Was it because of anything her sister did? She wonders this, but never finds the answer. The Fool messes with Zampano to the point that they get in a fight and by the end of it they end up in jail. He isn't the brightest guy, which is probably why he hasn't been given any other name than The Fool. He stays with Gelsomina one night and tells her that everything has a purpose, even a pebble, and if she doesn't stay with Zampano, who will? Gelsomina is ready to run away, but this revelation makes her stick around. This is such an interesting point to the plot because it's a likable character who truly seems like he wants to help, but he is giving awful advice, but we begin to hope that maybe what he says is true. The Fool is able to trick us just like he did Gelsomina.

**SPOILERS**.

The most devastating scene comes with the reintroduction to The Fool after they had been on the road again. Zampano gets mad and hits him in the head a few times only to cause him to die. The Fool definitely had some kind of illness that he knew of, but Zampano had no idea. Zampano must deal with the guilt of accidentally killing a man, and Gelsomina can't stand to be alive anymore. Death was too much for her. Zampano leaves Gelsomina when he realizes he can no longer stand her crying anymore. She tries to fix herself by coming outside one day and talking about how beautiful it is, but nothing can hold back the tears and her sorrow for The Fool. You see, it's not that she can't handle the death of one person, but she can't handle the fact that she has lost everything that made her pure and innocent. She is no longer the immature girl she was in the beginning. She must accept the rules of life. But she's not ready for it, and because of this Zampano finds out 4 years later that Gelsomina died while still being upset about the loss of The Fool (and our realization she was sad for her loss of innocence). The film is set up to make us understand each character and their motivations. Gelsomina stays behind with Zampano because if she didn't, who would? But the question is, who is ever going to be there for her? La Strada is a beautifully crafted film that is a requirement for any person who loves film.