उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

This Italian melodrama concerns the effects on 4-year-old Prico (Luciano De Ambrosis) of his parents' dissolving marriage. His mother (Isa Pola) is having an affair, and is planning on abandoning the family, while Prico's father (Emilio Cigoli) seems powerless to fix the situation. Even when the mother's guilt from leaving her son becomes too much and a reconciliation is attempted, old passions rise up, all before the watchful eyes of young Prico.

On paper this sounds like something I'd detest, an overheated melodrama with a kid as the central focus. However, this is not the product of the American production code in which a little kid is just thrown into the proceedings to appease the censors. Instead, director De Sica manages to handle the story with finesse and style, and it ended up being one of the best movies that I've seen in a while. Young De Ambrosis is very good as the wide-eyed little boy, imbuing the proper sadness when needed. The supporting performances are all good, and much of their inner lives and motivations are left up to the viewer to figure out, as things are seen from the child's point of view.

The camerawork is also noteworthy, with a few striking scenes, such as the camera moving lithely through a crowded hotel dining room, or a series of dramatic close-ups late in the film. The powerful ending is moving and memorable.

The story relates the disintegrating marriage of a bourgeois couple, indicated through their modern, spacious apartment and the housekeeper they employ. This distinguishes the film from the better known Italian neo realist works which typically take place against a backdrop of poverty and deprivation. The story is seen through the eyes of their young son, Prico.

Far more obscure than de Sica's other work, this is still nonetheless a classic because it endures, the story could take place just as easily today, with a few minor adjustments of clothing and details.

I don t agree this film is sentimental, it manages to stay just the right side of mawkishness. However, it still tugs at your heart strings, the child is just superb. The sign of a genius director that De Sica was able to manage the logistics of the crew, the equipment and coax this sort of performance out of a four year old.

This film put me in mind of Brief Encounter and it would be interesting to watch the two alongside. Both deal with infidelity and both are fantastically moving films.

The Criterion DVD is an excellent transfer. There are a couple of interviews on the disc and the accompanying sleeve notes are really informative.

Highly recommended.

A four-year old boy, Pricò, becomes the subject of emotional folly by his fluctuant parents and inattentive relatives.

Peter Brunette notes, "The Children Are Watching Us marks the first full blossoming of one of the most fruitful collaborations in world cinema history. The brilliant pairing of legendary Italian actor and hitherto commercial director Vittorio DeSica with Cesare Zavattini, the talented screenwriter who was to become the chief theorist of the neorealist movement that flourished in Italy right after World War II, created a synergy of magnificent proportions, which allowed each man to transcend his own individual limitations." So, Brunette might be a little flowery with his prose, but he is spot on. Regardless of whatever internal qualities this film has, good or bad, it is historically significant because of its place at the beginning of DeSica's career. This may be his least-known film, or at least one of the lesser known, but without it there would never have been "Bicycle Thieves", "Umberto D", or much of anything else. This really is the birth of the neo-realist movement that defined Italy for a generation.

This film caught me by surprise, I should say, gripped me by surprise. First, is its power to move deeply about which others have written. What might easily have seemed hollow and sentimental becomes compelling and searching because of the detailed performances given to all four of the central characters. Most amazing of these is Luciano De Ambrosis portrayal of Prico through whose eyes the story is told. The DVD includes an excellent 1984 interview with De Ambrosis in which he talks about working with De Sica. At one point the father carelessly knocks Prico into the side of a door. We know at once that the hurt to Prico is more emotional than physical, and we sympathize, but at the same time we also are drawn into the father's anguish that has brought him to this abuse. The moment is brief but hits home because it is well prepared for.

Of course the story through the boy's eye is the film through De Sica's lens, and it is always a revealing lens, emotionally caught up, frequently looking around corners or looking up at adult gossip. The world shown occasionally enters dream realities. One actual dream sequence made me think of Dali's questionable sequence in Hitchcock's "Spellbound," just three years later. However, where that is self-conscious and anything but dreamlike, this carried me off and felt genuine. I almost didn't notice as was drawn in, and everything reverberated feverishly as I was brought back. As one of the commentaries makes clear, the film had special resonance with the summer of 1942, just before war broke out. That only adds to its heart-wrenching power. The Children Are Watching Us is a magnificent plea for love and compassion. If it does not touch you, you must be very hard-hearted, indeed.

THE CHILDREN ARE WATCHING US might be our favorite De Sica film and one of our favorite Italian films of all time. It portrays with delicate sympathy the suffering of a child whose parents are separated because of the mother's love affair with another man. While the husband and wife are perfectly portrayed, by Emilio Cigoli and Isa Pola, the film belongs to little Luciano De Ambrosis as the five-year-old Prico'. His performance, which runs the gamut of joy, anguish, and sickly fear, staggers us. But of course it was director De Sica who was to work miracles later with the child actors of SHOE SHINE and THE BICYCLE THIEF. The conclusion to this heartbreaking film is no less unforgettable than those of De Sica's better-known masterpieces. It is one of the most indispensable of movies from Italy's fascist era. And it is shamefully unknown today.

De Sica's first Neo-Realist film had been neglected over the years and, so, it was a surprise to see it being added to "The Criterion Collection". Ultimately, it's not up to his later more celebrated quartet - SHOESHINE (1946), THE BICYCLE THIEF (1948), MIRACLE IN MILAN (1951) and UMBERTO D (1952) - but, taken on its own modest merits, it's a reasonably effective work coming from an actor best-known for light fare!

As indicated by the title, the narrative is seen through the eyes of the sensitive young son of a working-class couple; the mother is having an affair and the boy is witness to - and the victim of - the inevitable disintegrating family ties, being bounced around from the household of one begrudging relative to another. The couple make a determined effort to stay together for the sake of the child (having to contend, besides, with the nosy and gossiping tenants of their condominium) - but the impetuous young man who has come between man and wife won't give her up so easily, and he finally manages to tear her from them for good. In desperation, the husband commits suicide…

The plot is pretty melodramatic and the film is infused with a good deal of sentimentality (there are plenty of close-ups of the boy weeping his heart out, for instance); clearly, De Sica's hand isn't confident as yet in juggling the various elements that comprise such slices-of-life - for one thing, he has used actors rather than the non-professionals who would come to serve him in good stead in his subsequent Neo-Realist classics. Even so, the three leading performances are undeniably excellent...while the film's real coup is to be found in its devastating - and truly uncompromising - conclusion.

An unbelievably great film made a year before Visconti's "Ossessione" which is often wrongly considered the first official neo-realist film. It's a bit melodramatic in parts but filled with scene after scene of immortal, poignant truths not only about the way a child sees adults but the way everyone sees everyone else in reality and in the 'real world' where purity of soul and honesty matters and is always heroic, where as Pascal wrote, man's greatness is so obvious it can even be deduced from his wretchedness. This extremely fleeting 'real world' is never fixed but nevertheless always there in some essence or another waiting to be discovered and 'captured' underneath a thousand and one veils. Neo-realism provided techniques for snaring those elusive essences better. And these techniques have endured to this day, where the sons of the sons of neo-realist films from all around the world are instantly recognized as valuable and given acclaim (most recently a slew of impressive films from Iranian directors). Even if De Sica hadn't gone on to make "Shoeshine," "Bicycle Thief," and "Umberto D" he already had enough in this one little film to earn respect as one of the supreme artists of the 20th century.

Once in a great while, a child actor and a director are perfectly matched so that the child delivers an indelible performance that etches itself firmly into film history, as Jean-Pierre Leaud did for Truffault in The 400 Blows, or Haley Joel Osment accomplished for Shamalyan in The Sixth Sense; The child Luciano De Ambrosis performs with an incredible sensitivity to the insensitive adults around him, a mother and father who search for their own bliss while forgetting their child's well-being. Because it was released during WWII in Italy, DeSica's early effort did not receive the kudos it deserved, but deserves to rank in the pantheon with Bicycle Thief and Umberto D; it's a simple story of learning bitter lessons, with a memorable, well-defined sense of time and atmosphere.

In all truthfulness, I haven't been crazy about Vittorio De Sica outside his two most well-known films (Umberto D. And Bicycle Thieves). But I still thought this was pretty solid overall. It's simple and a little dull in parts, but for a good deal of its runtime, it does feature the qualities that most people seem to really love about De Sica as a filmmaker.

If there is one thing that stood out, it was probably the performance of the kid here, played by a six-year-old Luciano De Ambrosis. He's the heart of this film, and gave quite a moving and effective performance (or, given his age, and the way child-acting often is, maybe De Sica deserves a good deal of credit for that too).

Prico (Luciano De Ambrosis) has a mum Nina (Isa Pola) who likes abandoning him and then showing up when he's in trouble. He spends most of the film in the care of his father Andrea (Emilio Cigoli). However, life deals Prico an emotional blow and he is forced to make a choice....

It's a film about a kid so .....guess what......it's not very interesting. The acting is good but the story drags. Which parent will the kid side with? Adriano Rimoldo is quite creepy as Nina's love interest 'Roberto' who keeps showing up. God knows what she sees in him and the relationship doesn't make the film interesting. The audience's sympathies are entirely with Andrea who goes through the film with dignity. The film builds towards a poignant moment and the story leans towards the more tragic interpretation......in reality, things will be fine, especially once the kid starts taking drugs to forget that his mum has given him the name Prick.

Luckily, this movie came on Turner Classic Movies a few years ago and I had the opportunity to see it.

Since then, I have searched for reviews and couldn't find one; it's nice to see that other people have seen this de Sica masterpiece. ;) I was beginning to wonder if I was the only American to see this.

If you have seen it, how can you not love this? As I said, I saw this a few years ago - and only saw it once - yet, there are so many images in my head as I think of the film. The story is heart-wrenching. I cried when I watched it. {blushing}

This film made me a fan of neo-realism. It also was the impetus for me to watch more of de Sica's films and then those of Rossellini and Fellini.

A terrific 'tear-jerker' which SHOULD NOT BE MISSED if you ever get the chance. You'll have missed something very special if you miss it!

"The Children Are Watching Us" (1944) was the first film De Sica made in collaboration with the screenwriter Cesare Zavattini with whom he later made most of his films. The film works well as a sentimental introduction to his oeuvre. Already its title refers to De Sica's favorite subject of childhood which he studied all his life. In this film, he immerses into the realm of the child's gaze.

Although all the ingredients for a banal melodrama are present, De Sica eludes them with elegance. He does this precisely by focusing on the subject of childhood and, most importantly, on the child protagonist, his subjective experience and feelings of abandonment. Some may consider the adult characters of this divorce drama thin or black and white, and while this may be true, it is perfectly justified just as well because De Sica defines them by the child's point of view. Thus they are characterized by his mental distinctions, images and emotions.

As a matter of fact, the theme of watching is a leading idea in "The Children Are Watching Us". Throughout the film the protagonist observes his environment: the animals, the city, the puppet theater, the urban movement and, above all, the grown-ups. Not only is the familiar idea of the child's blaming gaze present but also his way of learning by imitation. A certain climax of this theme of watching can be seen in the scene where the boy and his father remain quiet, but experience a moment of understanding which De Sica depicts only by using extreme close-ups of their honest faces.

To go further in the analysis of the title, it should be noted that it is in plural, although there is really just one child, thus suggesting a more universal, moral message. The title is especially associated with the blaming gaze; that is to say, the child's ability to judge us by approval and disapproval. This is equivalent with the philosophy of De Sica's masterpiece "Bicycle Thieves" (1948) where a child character is used as a moral observer or, should I say, the protagonist's moral conscience.

In fact, a film historian Peter Bondanella has well noted that Roberto Rossellini's manifesto film of Italian neo-realism, "Rome, Open City" (1945) established children as the symbol for the future of Italy as a nation. This is evident in many films from the era and especially in De Sica's "Shoeshine" (1946) where boys must kneel down before American soldiers to shine their shoes. Although "The Children Are Watching Us" is completely free from such political thought as a sentimental drama, it gains its sadness from precisely similar elements "Shoeshine" does. In other words, the child protagonist feels emotionally helpless in a situation he doesn't understand, but what makes this even more poignant is the child's awareness of this situation; that is, of his own helplessness.

(1943) The Children Are Watching Us/ I bambini ci guardano (In Italian with English subtitles) DRAMA

Adapted from the novel by Cesare Giulio Viola (also credited co-writer for the screenplay) co-written and directed by Vittorio De Sica that opens with the mother, Nina (Isa Pola) sending away her four year old son, Pricò (Luciano De Ambrosis)to play while she spends time with her a guy named Roberto (Adriano Rimoldi) we find out later happens to be her love. By the time, Pricò notices her interacting with him he then walks closer toward her. And by the time she comes home with him, the father Andrea (Emilio Cigoli) is already eating his supper with them coming to join them while the family housekeeper, Agnese (Giovanna Cigoli) is serving them. Pricò is then put into bed where he asks her for a goodnight kiss, she kisses him several times before she closes the door on her way out. As it turns out after she left, she had never came came back.

This movie is well made from the perspective in according to the child in this case it is four year old, Pricò to which adults can also make selfish and irreplaceable decisions such as an extra- marital affair. It also reflects in real life.

There is nothing in Vittorio de Sica's previous four films that would prepare us for this, his fifth. A legion of writers contributed to the screenplay but the name that jumps out is that of Cesare Zavattini. His subsequent collaborations with de Sica make theirs one of the most fruitful and creative partnerships in the history of cinema.

Emilio Cigoli is the father, Isa Pola the mother and Luciano de Ambrosis the child, all of whom are splendidly 'real'. Apparently de Sica cast Luciano because the five year old had recently lost his mother which obviously meant that he would need less inducement to cry! Throughout the decades children have given miraculous performances on film and little Luciano's is one to treasure.

Here de Sica has concentrated on the follies, foibles and frailties of humankind and even the minor characters are wonderfully drawn. He never judges however, simply observes. This is a film that cannot fail to engage the emotions and anyone who is not moved by it is flint-hearted. Although unjustly overlooked at the time, its influence in changing the face of Italian cinema is indisputable.

Made during the second world war in Italy, this film got limited exposure due to the chaotic and turbulent period in which it was made. But it deserves far more attention than it got.

The film is largely told from the point of view of Prico, a small boy who has to suffer the consequences of his parents' rocky relationship. De Sica was one of the greatest directors ever to work in cinema and in this first of his four masterpieces he demonstrates where his strengths lie. Few directors have had his ability to get the audience to identify with the main characters. His handling of children actors is second to none (they are never cute and coy and always put in believable performances). Scenes of every day mundane events are included for the sake of keeping rhythm and to show that life is made up of such little things. His sense of framing is always top-notch and the scripts (often written in conjunction with the great Cesare Zavattini) are well thought out.

It's a hard-to-find film, but it's well worth searching far and wide for it.

Usually, a film about the passions of people, the struggles between propriety and desires, deals with the children of those involved merely by mentioning that the children are a consideration, like factors. The Children Are Watching Us centers the action around the son of a couple embroiled in the heartaches of an extra-marital affair. Although the story considers the emotions of the adults, it is the child's emotions that are at the heart of this story.

The young actor, Luciano De Ambrosis, portrays the child so well, the viewer is never taken out of the story. The director focuses on his eyes to remind us that children see (and sense) more than adults think they do.

It has been written that the action of this movie is filmed from the child's point of view, but this is not technically correct. As viewers, we see the actions of the parents and the child. What makes this film different is that the camera continually returns to the child and focuses on his actions, which are obviously in response to the actions of the adults. Other films have centered on children, but The Children Are Watching Us juxtaposes and intertwines the actions of the adults and the actions of the child, creating a clear cause and effect relationship between the two.

The son, Prico, has little control over the events of his life. This is a reality that children have to live with. The film conveys this well. Prico uses few words of dissent. He does not express his unhappiness verbally. But his eyes convey those feelings better than words ever could and underscore the fact that he has no say in the events that shape his life.

The photography in this B&W film is striking. The scenes are composed intelligently. Sometimes the camera focuses on the magnitude of buildings or spaces, emphasizing the smallness of a child.

This is a film that drags emotions out of the viewer by emphasizing the helplessness of children and the universality of its theme.

This movie displays an adult world caught up in its own silly preoccupations, where children are merely nuisances. All the adults are thinking about romance, dancing, reading, working. The boy's mother goes so far as to leave her son and husband to run off with a boyfriend. This theme resonates through every scene of the movie. The boy is excited to see the horses - turns out it's horse racing. Even the activities ostensibly carried out for children are part of the adult world. In a puppet show, the adults behind the scene angrily demand that a young girl go collect money from viewers. The movie does not only depict the dominance of the adult world over children; it also mocks the adult world. In one particularly powerful scene, the camera focuses on dancing legs - what a silly preoccupation! This is not to say that the world of the child is perfect. Prico, the young boy, is rude to the other children, and is too caught up in his own amusements, such as riding a scooter, to interact with them. And the adult world is not pure silliness. The boy's father makes an earnest effort to make his wife happy, even after she comes back from initially leaving him.

A truly amazing film. I didn't think "The Bicycle Thief" could be topped, but I think this film poses a credible threat. Even among the amazing adult acting performances, the child's performance stands out. The child acting performance of Luciano De Ambrosis is legendary, and I fail to think of a better child performance in film history ('Shoeshine' had some good performances, as well). I'd like to think of myself as a cinematic "tough guy"; one who does not cry easily at something so simple as a movie. However, this ending is guaranteed to leave you in tears. If you thought Bicycle Thief's ending was heartbreaking (and climactically abrupt), you haven't seen nothing yet. 10/10.

Vittorio De Sica, at this time better known for being in front of the camera, started to come into his own as a director with this touching story of a family coming apart at the seams in 1940s Italy. The story centers around Luciano De Ambrosis as Prico, a young child who must suffer the consequences of his parents' actions, specifically his mother. Her decision to run away with her lover causes serious turmoil amongst the father and son as well as her sister and the grandmother.

De Sica tells most of the story from the child's point of view, which causes the audience to sympathize with Prico and the father. The one weakness would be that the mother is not as sympathetic as she should be and that takes away from the power of the emotional ending, despite it still being very moving. At times it is almost too hard to watch; to see these people tear themselves from each other is almost unbearable, but De Sica has style and grace in his visuals, which makes it more emotional than difficult.

This was the launching point for De Sica, who would go on to direct The Bicycle Thief and Umberto D. in addition to becoming a world-renown director of realism and family turmoil. While not his strongest, this is certainly a very good film that captures child memories and disturbances and makes us brace for them as much as Prico does.