...und dennoch leben sie

Very bad print (even on DVD), but very good movie. A war film that focuses more on the people who suffer, instead of telling the story of those fighting the battle. It's also a movie about love, relationship, bonding between a woman and her daughter. Sophia Loren's performance is stellar. Belmondo is also very good. Young Eleonora Brown's performance gets better during the film. The last 30 minutes of the movie are poignant. It's heartbreaking to listen to Cesira apologize to Rosetta. Watch it.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on February 19th, 2006.

81/100 (***)

***SPOILERS*** Set in 1943 war torn Italy the movie "Two Women" is about a mother and daughter leaving Rome for the , what they think, safety of the countryside and going back to their little village in the hills and mountains in the Agro Pontino area just north of Rome.

Sophia Loren in a somewhat non-glamorous role as Cesira a shop owner in the Italian capital who's estranged from her husband and is, at the time that we first meet her, having an affair with local food distributor Giovanni, Ralf Vallone. Taking care of her shy teenage daughter Rosetta, Eleanor Brown, Cesira has had enough of the almost daily and deadly bombing by the USAAF and RAF and leaves the city with her daughter by train for her home town. There's trouble almost as soon as the train leaves the city with it being derailed by an Allied air attack. Leaving the disabled train and on foot both Cesira and Rosetta make it to the village after they survive an air attack by a USAAF fighter that killed a farmer who was walking on the same road with them.

After getting to the village things are more or less peaceful, with the war just an old and bitter memory, with Cesira meeting and falling in love with the local intellectual as well as socialist young collage student Michele,Jean-Paul Belmondo, who even young Rosetta takes a strong liking to. The almost forgotten war slowly catches up with Cesira and Rosetta and the people at the small village as the Allied forces break through the German lines and reach the outskirts of Rome. It soon becomes too dangerous for the village people to stay and they start to leave and go south to the Italian capital city which is now in US/Allied hands. Before this happened a squad of German soldiers entered the town and took Michele with them as a guide through the dangerous hills and valleys of the Argo Pontino.

On their way to Rome the two women, Cesira & Rosetta, stop off at a bombed out church to get some rest and are later set upon by a group of French Colonial Moroccan troops. The Moroccans brutally beat and gang raped them leaving young Rosetta almost mute with fear and shame of what happened to her and her mother. Getting back on their way to the Italian capital Cesira & Rosetta are both picked up by a local truck driver Firindo, Renato Salvatore. Stoping off at a small town outside of Rome that night Rosetta who seemed to have completely lost her mind, since she and her mother were raped, sneaks out of the room that she sharing with Cesira and has an affair with the truck driver. This both sickened and outrages her already distraught mother. The movie ends with Cesira getting the terrible news that her lover Michele was shot and killed by the Germans as we later see both mother and daughter alone in their small room arm in arm crying and consoling each other as the movie slowly fades to black.

Sophia Loren rightfully who got an Academy Award as best actress for 1961 in the role of Cesira was both feisty as well as touching as the long suffering Italian mom. The vicious rape scene in the bombed out church of Cesira and Rosetta was not only graphic and shocking. By having this outrage committed by the liberating allied troops instead of the occupying German soldiers it showed that there's nothing good that comes out of war on either side.

Sophia Loren became the first player to win an Acting Oscar for a foreign language film in Two Women or La Ciociara in her native Italy. She plays the title role here, the other woman being her daughter played in La Ciociara by Eleanora Brown.

The story here is a relatively simple one, Sophia and Eleanora leave Rome due to the bombing of Rome just prior to the Allied invasion of Italy. The political situation is in one state of flux to put it mildly. In a matter of days, Benito Mussolini was overthrown and General Badoglio put in charge of the government. But the Nazis suspecting something was afoot sent in troops and met the Allies in a pitched 21 day battle at Salerno which like Waterloo was a close run thing.

At one point Jean-Paul Belmondo asks a couple of stray British paratroopers who landed way up behind enemy lines why the Allies didn't land in Rome. In fact they almost did land an army there, but Eisenhower canceled the landing at the last moment and probably saved a lot of lives doing so.

But this isn't about great battles, it's about Two Women just trying to survive the ravages of war in the best way they can. Sophia decides their best place is in her old village, south towards Naples. Before the film ends, she's given plenty of reason to rethink that decision.

Sophia was the Best Actress in 1961 for this film and for reasons I don't understand it was not given any other Oscar nominations, including for Best Foreign Language Film and for Best Director for Vittorio DeSica.

If La Ciociara has a fault it's that it's Sophia's show totally. The village characters and that of her one time lover Raf Vallone are left undeveloped. Only the daughter and young intellectual Belmondo who falls for the earthy Sophia seem to be on the verge of becoming three dimensional.

The subject matter could never have been done in an American studio with the Code still firmly in place. I remember back in the day La Ciociara was shown at the art house circuit and many young juveniles considered it a mark of daring to get in and see Sophia Loren expose more than her American films had done up to that time.

Sophia Loren deserved that Oscar, every bit of it. And you'll agree if you see La Ciociara.

It's WWII. Cesira (Sophia Loren) flees Rome away from the allied bombing for the sake of her 13 year old daughter Rosetta (Eleonora Brown). She's a widow of a loveless marriage and she's the object of everyman's desire. They go back to Cesira's home village. The idealistic anti-Fascist Michele Di Libero (Jean Paul Belmondo) falls for her. Mussolini is imprisoned and Michele is overjoyed. They even help a couple of English soldiers. The situation deteriorates as the war closes in and food becomes scarce. A group of Germans force Michele to lead them back to their lines. As the Americans approach, the villagers clear out. Cesira decides to go back to Rome on their own. They take shelter in a bombed out church where they are both raped by a large group of Arab soldiers.

Sophie Loren is magnetic. She powers every scene. Eleonora Brown does a good job keeping up. The story meanders a little. There are a lot of unrelated things that pop up. All of a sudden, there's a Russian deserter. The randomness sometimes help the story. When the story moves to the German occupied town, it really starts to move. The tension gets ratcheted up higher and higher.

very sad film by vittorio de sica (famed director of "the bicycle thief.") the first two thirds of the film move slowly, but it's still very engrossing. the final third of the film is pure cinematic tragedy. sophia loren won the oscar for best performance for a lead actress in this movie, and i beleive that she dearly deserved it. prior to seeing "two women" i had no idea what a terrific actress she was. her role as the mother desperately trying to shield her daughter from the horrors of the world is one of the finest that i have ever seen. this is a truly heartbreaking and beautiful film.