LA STRADA

Italy, 1954, 107 minutes, Black and white.
Giulietta Masina, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart.
Directed by Federico Fellini.

La Strada is considered by most people to be one of the most moving films ever made. It is early Fellini and easy to comprehend Fellini although many of his later interests are here - madness, the Church, clowns, the Italian people, the sad heroine.

Anthony Quinn gives an excellent performance (ten years before Zorba and the variations on Zorba which followed) as Zampano the strong man, a carnival performer, tough with little human feeling. Richard Basehart is Matto, the clown, tight-rope walker, mischievously provocative but with a kindly simple wisdom. And Giulietta Masina is Gelsomina, surely one of the screen's most beautiful performances. She is the simple girl who becomes Zampano's assistant, who enjoys her work, suffers from Zampano until there is nothing left for her. She is symbolised in the stringed melody of ‘La Strada’ played by Matto and which lives on after her death. And Zampano discovering this lies, a broken man, on the sea shore.

The film is a picture of a particular section of the Italian people, but it considers poorer representatives of this section, the simple, the persecuted and the hard life they lead. The film elicits sympathy and understanding for life's victims. Fellini, as everyone knows, has gone on from these films of the 50's to complex psychological explorations of society, individuals and himself, and he has become a fad and a fashion (as well as a genius.)

1. The title of the film is simply "The Road'. How does this offer the key to the meaning of the film?

2. The film as an example of Italian movie realism: social themes, real people on real locations, and real-life development of plot. Is it a good example? Is this 'realism' the reason for the film's impact and success?

3. Was it a sad film? Why? Was it a pessimistic film? Why?

4. Was Zampano a repellent character or did he have some likeable qualities? How brutal was he, how selfish, how insensitive? What kind of a man was he? How much could he be blamed for the hard things he did?

5. Did you like Gelsomina? Why? Was it Guilietta Masina's personality or was it the character of Gelsomina and the situations of the film?

8. Madness and foolishness are often dramatic vehicles for communicating the truth in paradoxical ways. What did Gelsomina's slow-wittedness convey about what it is to be a human being with real feelings and needs ?

7. Was Zampano a happy person? Did he like people? Why? Did he enjoy his work?

8. Was Gelsomina a happy person, did she enjoy her work?

9. What was the function of Motto (literally, the fool) in the film? How did he illuminate the personalities of Zampano and Gelsomina? Was he too imitative for Zampano? Did Zampano mean to "kill "him"?

10. Why did Zampano leave Gelsomina?

11. What role did the musical score play in the film, especially Motto's theme which became Gelsomina's? What emotional effect did the theme have?

12. How did Zampano change after he left Gelsomina? Had he learnt anything about himself?

13. What was the meaning of the ending? How had Gelsomina, her person, her goodness and her innocence affected Zampano?

14. Was this a great film as it has been acclaimed?