Umberto D.

This movie from director Vittoria de Sica is a heartbreaking story of a destitute pensioner named Umberto Ferrari and his pet dog. The pensioner cannot bring himself to tell anyone of his difficult existence or to ask for help. Set in post-war Italy of the 1940's and 50's, the neo-realist movies of this period with their on-location shooting show the grinding poverty of many people at the time. With this vivid background, we see some very tender moments in the story that illustrate the bond between the man and his dog. We also get a sense of the mood in Rome at the start as police break up a protest by pensioners fighting for a decent income. Other scenes take the viewer into a hospital where patients recite the Rosary from their beds, have lunch at a pasta diner and go home to a walk-up apartment. With Umberto pitted against his cold-hearted landlady, we see how his life is made almost unbearable. In fact, the movie is very sensitive in its depiction of this man, one of many elderly people who were by themselves with little money. In this case, the elderly man, played by Carlo Battista, has a reason for living because of his canine companion. De Sica used amateur actors and Battista was a university professor in Florence who has captured the essence of his character. De Sica made his mark as the foremost director of the neo-realist school of cinema and as an accomplished character actor in his own right. I noticed the dedication to Umberto DeSica, who was apparently his father. In this film, DeSica has certainly produced an outstanding work of art about the plight of one aged citizen in a particular time and place. Thanks to TCM for its recent showing this neo-realist classic.

Enough has been said about this wonderful movie already and I'm not going to repeat what others have written at length except to say that I've just come to this film totally unprepared and now feel emotionally shattered. I've watched it as the 44th movie in a collection of 50 so-called art-house films in a DVD collection from Criterion. These allegedly "essential" movies are presented alphabetically and that is how I've viewed them, so it's taken me quite some time to get to the letter U. If I'd started with this De Sica classic I may have felt disinclined to watch any of the others!

Indeed, in a lifetime of over 50 years of watching movies - everything from the truly execrable to the totally inspirational - this is the first and only film I've ever sought to review on this site. I know there are a few detractors out there on the message-boards who cannot see beyond their own cynicism, but I pity them. This movie remains timeless, as potent as when it was made in 1952. You don't have to be old, you don't have to be a dog-lover (although it helps), and you certainly don't have to be a fan of neo-realist Italian cinema. All you have to be is a good human being. Watching this movie is a sort of 'humanity test' and thankfully most of the reviewers here have passed it.

I'm sorry, "Cinema Paradiso", you've just been relegated to Second Best Foreign Film.

Who among us doesn't fear that one day he or she will meet the fate of Umberto D., a pensioner who discovers that he can't scrape together enough money in order to live? A retiree, such as myself, doesn't have to reside in ravaged, dehumanized, postwar Rome to witness the dreaded nightmare of outliving his or her finances and, even worse, the worry about our dog's fate if we are no longer able to provide the homes that they need? So why do I love this film so much when it causes me so much personal trepidation about my own future--and that of my precious best friend?

Aside from a very talented Napoleone, who plays the dog Flike for all but two dog scenes and manages to steal the show in the process, the two main human actors, Carlo Battisti and Maria Pia Casilio, both remarkably appearing as amateurs, are superb, which is a triumph in itself for the film's accomplished director, Vittorio de Sica. The photography of post-World War II Rome by G.R. Aldo, combined with the highly dramatic music of prolific film composer Alessandro Cicognini, completes the recipe for an outstanding cinematic success that has withstood the test of time. The striking image of Maria standing at the window as Umberto departs in the tram will remain with me for the rest of my life. This film is not only about the relationship of a man and his faithful little dog but about the love between Maria and Umberto in a world that seems to be totally void of compassion.

There are too many memorable scenes in this film to describe in one review, but the one segment that leaves an indelible mark on me is the instance when little Flike, for good reason, momentarily loses faith in his human companion, but I won't reveal any other information about the scene. If that situation alone doesn't deeply move you, I don't know what will.

One doesn't have to be in an advanced stage of life, such as myself, in order to fall in love with this movie. Umberto D's plight is one that should resonate with moviegoers of all ages and economic conditions. Hardship to the point of desperation could happen to any of us at any time. I have learned from adversity that nothing is ever guaranteed, so appreciate all that you have today, don't forget to kiss your precious, little doggie goodnight, and never lose your best friend's trust, not even for a brief moment in time. It will break your heart.

This is storytelling at its simplest and most beautiful. An old man - his sole companion, a dog - tries to survive on a fixed, tight income while being mistreated by his landlady.

DeSica brilliantly captures the despair of his protagonist and makes this film unforgettably powerful. This film deserves to be seen by everyone, not just those who enjoy foreign-language films.

This film is touching, memorable and manages to draw us into Umberto's life without ever becoming maudlin. The denouement is heartbreaking, but the film never lapses into sentimentality. "Umberto D" truly is one of the greatest films ever made.

Vittorio De Sica once remarked that why should film makers go in search of extraordinary events when in the course of their daily lives they are confronted with ordinary events of extraordinary beauty.This statement sums best the very essence of this Neorealist classic. Umberto D directed by the master Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sica is a sad albeit ordinary tale of the loss of human values in Italian society after the end of second world war.Everything about the leading character Umberto D is told in an ordinary indeed prosaic manner.It is rather bizarre but mention must also be made of the poor light in which women characters have been shown.This is due to the fact that in Umberto D,both the grumpy landlady and unmarried pregnant girl representing loss of moral values are women characters directly associated with the old man.The great thing about Umberto D is its canine protagonist named Flike who serves his master so well that he even prepares to die for his master's sake.In Umberto D, by showing a faithful dog who remains loyal to his old master,Vittorio De Sica has rightly depicted that animals are more truthful than some human beings.