Il tetto

For whatever reason, I was unable to post to the message board for this movie.

I love Di Sica and so when I saw this movie available on Facets video, I bought it, along with 'It Happened in the Park' by Di Sica. Facets.org rents out movies if you join and also sells movies. They are sort of an art house type film organization out of Chicago.

I saw 'The Bicycle Thief' many years ago and thought it was a very moving film. Yes, the lead actor was probably not charming and perhaps unlikeable but it was a great film nonetheless. 'Umberto D' is as good a film, although very little happens and it can seem to move too slowly.

'The Roof' is really for Di Sica fans.

Just ran this in 35mm.....and found it to be a lot more enjoyable than the dreary and misery-ridden BICYCLE THIEF (with a very unlikeable, desperate lead character) by the same director. The two leads (the newly married couple) were naturalistic and very likable, and you really could identify with their plight - which became no less desperate than that of the BICYCLE THIEF. Their brief moments of love and affection for each other were very moving - and believably touching when alongside scenes of their unhappiness and desperation. Their desperate race to build a squalid little structure to live in is incredibly involving and pulls you in to the very last moments of the picture. Will they make it? You'll have to see the picture to find out.

Having seen the amazing three masterpieces - Ladri Di Biciclette, Miracolo a Milano and Umberto D. - which De Sica made in a row, I was a bit worried that his formula could be worn out, that by '56 neorealism would be dead. I was worried that I'd grown apathetic to his tragic fates and epic portraits of the working class.. but I was WRONG! The characters in this movie are simply too real -- and most likely, they are real, since often De Sica didn't use pro actors, and none of the actors have a prior acting history according to IMDb). Growing tired of his formula would be the same as growing tired of people, stories and destinies all together. It doesn't take long for these poor Italians to win sympathy and capture emotions, and in those 8 years from Ladri di Biciclette and to Il Tetto, De Sica may not have changed his focus from the tragic lives in the lowest classes of Italian post-war history, but he's certainly gone from being just a bit over-the-top on how bad everything can get (which isn't necessarily bad) to an even more modest story. A story that could sound dull if retold with only words, but told in the hands of the genius De Sica, it becomes another gem. If you like anything else that he's made, you'll like this one, too. It's honest, it's historical, it's political, it's human, it's beautiful and more than any of his other movies, Il Tetto does shine a light for the poor.

Now available on YouTube, this movie is a gem of realism with a story line that is deeply moving and at times frustrating. It shows the hardships of a very young couple who decide to marry before they have secured a home. . . . The acting and realistic scenes from the major characters and sub plots is very engaging.

As the couple strive to find a home they are helped by many who are also living in poverty. . . The acting shows off Vittorio De Sica's direction beautifully as one is drawn into the lives of the married couple early on. . . . In the end, the couple move forward with the help of many, showing that although they have major financial hurdles, they enjoy a wealth of deeply moving relationships with many who were living in similar circumstances. . . I highly recommend this film.

After a pause of some years (after 'Umberto D') Vittorio de Sica and Cesare Zavattini returned to neorealism and made this very down-to-earth and extremely realistic almost documentary film of the hardships of poor people to obtain a decent place to live of their own. The film begins with the young couple's marriage, then they move in with the family but there are constant quarrels, so they have to find a place of their own. He is a bricklayer, so he knows how to build houses, and he gathers his friends to build a small house when his wife is pregnant. It is against the law, but if a house has a roof it cannot be torn down by the authorities as illegal. There is a race to get the small house completed before the guards arrive. The main character of the film is tenderness, augmented by the endearing music of Alessandro Cicognini, the ordeals of the young couple in their early twenties are being depicted with empathic sincerity, and this should certainly be included in de Sica's canon of Neo-realistic masterpieces. The mood is very closely related with 'Miracle in Milan', like a more realistic sequel to that fairy tale. The human touch is unmistakable and poignantly realistic, so as to make you feel that all this is happening for real. That's his knack as a master director of many masterpieces, of which this is just another one.