I bambini ci guardano

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 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.

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 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.

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.