La vita agra

This less well known '60s Italian Comedy is the attempt to translate into a movie one of the greatest books Italian contemporary literature has to offer: Luciano Bianciardi's "La Vita Agra".

The movie tells the story of Luciano Bianchi, an intellectual coming from a provincial area of Italy, moving to Milan after a mine accident killed some of his friends and co-workers. Milan in the is the symbol of the economic growth and increasingly wealthy lifestyle that characterised Italy's in the 60s, and Luciano's life changes dramatically: he leaves his wife and kids behind, gets a new job and falls in love with Anna, a young and lefty journalist.

Carlo Lizzani modified the story told by the book in many crucial parts, and making it more suitable for a movie, he took away the most touching and extraordinary features of the book: the cruel irony, the sense of disillusionment, the struggle between personal ethics and the real world during the economic boom.

A decent movie, but I definetly recommend to read the book (it's available on translation). It's my favourite book ever, by the way.