Miracolo a Milano

lovely. it is first word about this film. fantastic, tender, gentle, dream, it is a sentimental gem. and this is important for a gray , cold world. parable, social manifesto in sweet colors, fairy tale, it is a piece of clay for its viewer. because it is difficult to define it. so, essential is the warm emotion. the performance of Emma Gramatica. and extraordinary Toto in which the young Francesco Golisano gives all pure nuances of life joy. after many years from first meeting, it is not exactly one of my favorites but ideal drug for gloomy days. a different de Sica, it is shining and naive. or, only, isle for the short escape after stressful moments. a kind of Life is wonderful but with little substantial dose of miracle flavor.maybe, a form of Charlot universe slice. like return in childhood womb.

Miracle in Milan is a movie that has one of those heart-warming characters with an indomitable spirit who brightens the lives of everyone around him. I quite liked how Francesco Golisano played this character because he never acts as though this is a struggle for him, he simply is kind and optimistic as a part of his nature. The film starts off somewhat comical, but otherwise perfectly normal as the people living homeless in Milan seek a way to survive. I was charmed by this whole section of the film, and seeing the way that the human spirit fought to live a normal life despite not having all the modern conveniences that money provides. There is also a fun contrast when we see these poor people interacting with the rich and privileged people who want to take possession of the land. A meeting in the big city was one of the most humorous scenes in the film, as we see these homeless people in the most over-the-top opulence.

The turn for the film comes later when a magical element is added to the story. This is where things got weird. I liked the idea of empowering our hero in a unique way, but his new-found ability kind of shifted the tone and even the plot of the film. Suddenly, it was looking at how greed could entrap even those who once knew how to live with nothing. But it never felt the script fully addressed how damaging this behavior was to the people as they received everything that they thought would make life better. Also, the original plot is still happening, but it seems the importance of it is diminished. I wouldn't mind a kind of Monkey's Paw story, where someone is given magical powers that end up ruining life when it was supposed to help, but it is not the plot I was invested in from the outset. Then the ending is extremely odd and leaves me with more questions than answers. I definitely liked elements of Miracle in Milan, but if it remained focused in one direction or the other I would have enjoyed it more.

I just recently watched De Sica's Miracle in Milan and I must say it's a tragedy this film isn't more widely accessible. The film follows the curiously magical exploits of a grown up orphan who has just left his orphanage for the first time. His unstoppable optimism finally brings him to a shantytown outside of Milan. He helps to build the town into a thriving community, which soon comes under the fire of the property's owner. Through a miracle from the heavens, our optimistic orphan sets to help his fellow vagrants with their lives and their homes.

I'm not normally one for dopey family films, so I was very happy to enjoy this. It's not dopey, it's not sappy and it's not overly sentimental. The story is told with a gentle touch that De Sica is such a master with. The film is sweet, good-hearted and touching without ever relying on the corny or the melodramatic.

All in all, this film leaves you with a heart-warming feeling that only a poet like De Sica could give you. A sure recommendation.

The snobs and pseudo experts consider it "a far cry from De Sica's best" The ones suffering from a serious lack of innocence will find a problem connecting to this masterpiece. De Sica spoke in a very direct way. His Italianness doesn't have the convoluted self examination of modern Italian filmmakers, or the bitter self parody of Pietro Germi, the pungent bittersweetness of Mario Monicelli, the solemnity of Visconti or the cold observation of Antonioni. De Sica told us the stories like a father sitting at the edge of his children's bed before they went to sleep. There is no attempt to intellectualize. Miracolo A Milano and in a lesser degree Il Giudizio Universale are realistic fairy tales, or what today we call magic realism. The film is a gem from beginning to end and Toto is the sort of character that you accept with an open heart but that, naturally, requires for you to have a heart. Cinema in its purest form. Magnificent.

This obscure de Sica delivers the goods. And it is said "the meek shall inherit the earth." This tale of classes on the surface but really an allegory for all the homeless people that populated Europe after the great war. They are homeless but cheerful, in a societies too impoverished and selfish to care for or acknowledge them, footmats for the Italian carpetbaggers. de Sica chooses to tell it as a fairy tale, a Cinderella story. I have not read the book it is based on so I cannot foresay if the deus ex machina is the construct of the writer or Vittorio. It begins with the words, "Once upon a time..." to exemplify the timelessness of its tale, for the story could be set anywhere and everywhere. Caricature sketches of the aristocracy that cut to the bone, whimsical nature of the homeless especially when they begin to grant their wishes and an ending right out of a Spielberg picture makes this boulange a delight for all. De Sica's most accessible picture is also one of his best. Abandoning neo-realism, he always dallied between that and pure good old film-making, he creates a movie that breaks the heart and at the same time fills it with the yearning of hope that one needs to continue leaving in this world. Gracias Vittorio! Gracias! Gracias!!! Gracias!!!!!!!!!!!!