Miracle in Milan

 Vittoria da Sica's phantasmagorical masterpiece "Miracle in Milan" (1951) starring Francesco Golisano, Brunella Bovo among others. 

Toto (Francesco Golisano) is found in a cabbage patch by an old lady who nurses him until her falling health. The boy grows to be an obedient nice good humored person, stayed in a hostel and then set out on his own to live in a shanty town amongst the poor. 

The poor have nothing, absolutely nothing to live by, they live in ramshackle houses with barely anything to eat, hardly any money coming by, eking out a marginal existence. Among those staying in the shanty is Edvidge (Brunella Bovo) who is a maid to a family. 

The shanty town is obviously an occupied property belonging to somebody else so they come to take possession of the same, but the shanty unites against the outsiders. In the meanwhile oil is accidentally discovered in the midst of the square and the owner again comes back to forcibly take possession of the property. 

Toto in despair goes up to climb a totem pole where his mother hands him a good luck dove. What happens next is miraculous. 

Vittoria de Sica has stayed close to his neo realist style of film making. The film is shot in actual location with a ragtag band of actors, which shows the brutal reality of poverty in Milan. The special effects shown later in the movie is quite spectacular for a 1951 production. The film got a Cannes and a Fipresci. 

The main characters Brunella Bovo and Francesco Golisano have acted quite well in the movie. 

Bicycle Thieves

 

Iconic cult classic "Bicycle Thieves" directed by Vittorio de Sica in 1948, an Italian neorealist film ranked as one of the greatest films of all time. The film derives its strength from its beautiful story told in a simple style. Its a post world war II Italy and work is hard to find. Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) gets an employment call to stick posters of an upcoming film, but he must have a bicycle of his own, otherwise he does not get the job. He has pawned his bicycle to meet ends of his family comprising of his wife Maria, son Bruno and a small baby. Maria manages to sell some quilts and get some money to release the bicycle. Antonio is happy with his bicycle and dreams of a big future giving comforts to his family. Unfortunately on the first day of the job itself, some one steals his bicycle and then its a desperate struggle to get it back, because he knows what it means to him and his family. Antonio does not give up the search and enlists the help of his friends to find the bicycle. The police is not of much help and neither he can spot his own bicycle in the second hand bicycle mart. As he gets one rejection after another, Antonio gets frustrated and sometimes angry at his son, for the bad luck that has befallen him. Lamberto has done a brilliant role as the angst ridden Antonio looking for his bicycle. The climax is very poignant. Both Lamberto and Enzo Staoila (Bruno, the boy) were non actors when they played this part. de Sica has used poor neighbourhood to shoot most of his shots and none of his shots were in studio. It was all realist portraying the poverty, grime and unemployment of the city in post war Europe. Many Indian film makers have been influenced by Vittoria de Sica including Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy both of whom showed poverty and angst in their movies.  The film won the Golden Globe for the best foreign language film in 1949.