Review of Nights of Cabiria (1957) by Sarfaraz A — 13 Dec 2013

Nights of Cabiria (Italian: Le notti di Cabiria) Italian film, directed and written by Italian legendary director Federico Fellini. Starring Giulietta Masina (wife of Federico Fellini - considered female version of Charlie Chaplin). Film won Best Foreign Language Oscar award, and Masina won Best Actress award at Cannes Film Festival. Fellini also had directed Masina another Oscar-winner 'La Strada 1954 (The Road - Anthony Quinn). Cabiria was a small character, from another Fellini's film The White Sheik.

Cabiria is street-prostitute in the post-ww2 Rome - she lives in her own single-room house that she is proud of to boost in front of everybody, including her bank-account - she is often at fights with other street-prostitutes. Sentimalist as she has been all along, and inconvincible to accept betrayal in love affairs at the hands of men - having been pushed into water by her boyfriend who robbed her of 40,000 lira in her purse, only to be saved by near-by swim-expert children. Her kind-hearted, too interfering-and-yet-sweet neighbor friend Wanda (Franca Marzi) is always there to condole her, despite, often been slighted by Cabiria.

Just as the case was with me, when I first watched La Strada in 2010. I sent sms to my brother in capital city, telling him, "I just found reason to live". Events repeated themselves, after I watched this film, and there was only single word coming out of my repeatedly "magical". And by God, I still cannot make up my mind as to where should I begin this review from, what am I supposed to write about legendary personalities like Fellini and Masina.

You barely, receive performances as impactful as Masina's - her smile, her making-of-innocent-facial-expressions, her delivery of dialogues, sarcastic use as well as dance-moves (like, when she does in the start of the film on the street) are enough to hypnotize you.

Apart from all this, we come to Fellini's perfect direction, maintaining surrealist atmosphere - and while he does this, there is no space left to suspect artificial use. Is Cabiria really Cabiria? Or a movie-character indeed? - Fellini's mastery at wiping the memory of audience of scene in the beginning, as the movie progresses until the end, makes us wonder at the level of his skill to take the full advantage, when he desires. And he perfectly executes at the climax - and what a sheer heart-piercing climax, it was no lesser than the shocking climax of La Strada.