La Strada Response - Federico Fellini PDF

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Federico Fellini...

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Yenlik Utebayeva ID 20171325 La Strada Analysis The movie that is going to be further analyzed is a 1954 Italian drama “La Strada” directed by Federico Fellini. To begin with, the picture reveals the story of an ingenuous young woman who was bought from her mother by a sadistic circus performer to become his assistant. The narrative of the movie follows a linear structure as the events are presented in a chronological order which helps to communicate the realistic nature of the film. Moreover, the mise-en-scene of the movie relies mostly on actual locales with nonprofessionals appearing in some frames as well as uses the filming style of the documentaries. According to Swados (1956), the latter approach has emerged due to the poverty of the cinema of that period and was later described as “neorealism”. To point out, the neorealistic cinematography does not glorify the poor living conditions people were facing but instead portrays the true picture (Swados, 1956). Also, he has noticed that the greatest movies were mainly the ones that concentrated on poverty and anonymity. Nevertheless, as mentioned by Booth (2011), different from other works of neorealism, the film presents minimal references to the place and time which can be seen from the scene in the cafe where Gelsomina asks Zampano about his background. To be more precise, his reply was that he is from his part of the country and was born in his father’s house. Moving onto the sound elements of the movie, the music appears to be an important aspect of the work not as a background accompaniment but as the main theme which intensifies the sorrow that embraces the whole picture. The melody which is played by Gelsomina on the trumpet is deeply stored in Zampano’s memory since he has recognized it

after hearing the first notes even though a long time has passed. When he realized that she is not alive anymore his heart was filled with grief and pain which can be seen from the final scene where he lies desperately on the sand. The interesting thing here is noticed by Booth (2011) that the opening and closing scenes are both shoot at the ocean demonstrating the natural cycle of life.

Summing up, the movie discussed various themes such as political, economic, and social using a very straightforward plot. Additionally, it underlines the emotional aspects rather than technical making the picture simple and, therefore, realistic. Consequently, it can be concluded that the beauty of “La Strada” lies in its simplicity making it a timeless masterpiece of neorealistic cinematography.

References: Booth, P. (2011). Fellini’s La Strada as Transitional Film: The Road From Classical Neorealism to Poetic Realism. The Journal of Popular Culture, 44(4), 705-715. Swados, H. (1956). La Strada: Realism and the Comedy of Poverty. Yale French Studies, 17, 38-43 ....