IL GRIDO (THE CRY)

Italy, 1957, 116 minutes, Black and White.
Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, Betsy Blair, Dorian Gray, Lyn Shaw.
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.

Il Grido is an early Michelangelo Antonioni film. very sombre, it traces the story of a worker in North Italy as he moves away from home, across the top of Italy and the Po Valley and then returns. It is a bleak journey and ultimately one of despair. Quite well made, but grimly conceived, the film indicates the themes and Antonioni was to explore in the 60s and 70s. It precedes his famous trilogy. Antonioni was to move to England for Blow up in the mid 60s, to America for Zabriskie Point, 1970, then to China for his long documentary and finally internationally for his very fine film The Passenger. Antonioni uses the American adventure actor Steve Cochrane in the central role and also uses Betsy Blair, who at this time was making films on the Continent instead of America. Interesting in itself, essential viewing for a study of Antonioni's films.

1. The meaning of the title, its focus? Whose cry, whose shout? In reality? The cry as a symbol?

2. The vision of Italy of Michelangelo Antonioni? Landscapes, society? The individual within his landscapes and society and environment? Separation from it, emotion in it? Alienation from it? The difficulty of communication within it? The oppression of environment? How well were these themes visualized in black and white photography, settings, atmosphere? Particular sequences?

3. The black and white photography, the portrayal of the Po valley, the town of Goriano, the emphasis on the road, the winter landscapes, the fog, the towns throughout the valley? The authentic atmosphere of the valley and the river, the hardship and the poverty? How symbolic was the valley, the journey through the valley? The journey and the return?

4. The patterns in the structure for audience involvement and understanding? The patterns in the journey and the return? Aldo going as far as he could go? Returning to deal with his past? Returning to his death? The episodic nature of the film; the links? The focus on Aldo, the fact that he travelled with Rosina?

5. How credible was Aldo as hero of this film? An Italian as portrayed by an American? His strengths of character, the kind of man he was in himself? His place in Goriano, his work? The initial relationship with Irma and its lasting seven years? The portrayal of him at the start, the height? The irony of this at the end? His initial discovery of his world breaking up, his inability to cope? Irma and her treatment of him, his being left with Rosina? The encounter with so many women and the effect they had on him; mothering, wife, sexual relationship? The sequences with Irma, Rosina, his mother, Elvia, Edera, Virginia, Andreina? what did these women have in common? How different were they?

6. Antonioni’s exploration of the nature of men and of women, their interrelationships, their dependence, support and hurt? Permanence and transience? Love, marriage, affair? What did Aldo yearn for in his relationships?

7. What happened to Aldo throughout the film? Within himself, in his relationship with others, in his self-respect, search for work, care for Rosina? Why did it end in death?

8. The importance of the initial sequences and the clash with Irma, the landscapes in which it took place, the revelation of the character of Irma? Her strengths, her weaknesses? The bond between the two, the reason for her breaking the bond? The way of telling Aldo, the places, her pursuing him? The importance of the baby, marriage?

9. How also was the film a study of a child, a lost child in a landscape, with an adult? What happened to her throughout the film? Her being left alone at the end?

10. The portrayal of work, man's need to work, Aldo and his difficulty in working; the boxing, travelling along the roads, trucks, the dredges, the mud homes?

11. Elvia as a character, her background, her family, her bond with Aldo? The possibility of happiness? The importance of the sequence of the dance? What happened to each of them? Why did he go on?

12. The contrast with Edera, the atmosphere of the dance, the seduction? Similarities and differences between the two women and their effect on Aldo? Why could he not stay?

13. The character of Virginia, her father? Strengths and weaknesses in themselves? Aldo's interest, Rosina? The bond between the two? The sequences with the father and the reminding of ageing and its problems?

14. The character of Andreina, the casual relationship, the setting, illness? The bond of love and yet its not being permanent?

15. How did the audience share in Aldo's return along his journey, encountering the women again, the changed perspective?

16. How political a film; the background of Italian politics, the administration of the Po valley, society? Aldo's stances? The critique of the establishment?

17. The gradual leading to the death, the height and the irony of the beginning, the cry and the visual effect of Aldo's fall? The motivation for his death? Rosina?

18. How much insight into human nature does a film like this afford? The particular views of Antonioni? Italian views? Universal views?