Review of Shoeshine (1946) by Walter M — 04 May 2012

In "Shoe Shine," Pasquale(Franco Interlenghi) and Giuseppe(Rinaldo Smordoni) are two boys in postwar Italy who work a variety of odd jobs in order to save up to buy a horse. One of those jobs involves selling American blankets to a psychic(Maria Campi). While there, the boys become unintentionally part of a robbery that also ends up giving them enough cash for their horse. The bad news is that this also brings them to the attention of the police who put them in juvenile prison in hopes of getting the names of their adult confederates out of them.

"Shoe Shine" is a very moving, yet also occasionally playful, film that also contains a very serious message. If, Bill Hicks notwithstanding, you feel that children are the future(and I think that's why a psychic is involved in the story), then the film makes an excellent case for the authorities squandering Italy's future by treating its orphan children so poorly in jailing and punishing so many, instead of trying to care for them. This is at a time when children were forced to grow up too quickly, anyway, while not being educated in any meaningful way. At least, Pasquale and Giuseppe have an eye on their future by buying a horse as an investment, and not just to ride on.