User reviews

This was Vittorio de Sica's own favourite among his films, and he always regretted that it was more or less thrown aside, as it was made during the chaotic ending of the war when Italy was thrown into the turmoil of civil war and practically lost in the national confusion, and few copies of the film have survived, mainly only in 16mm format. Hopefully the film will some day be completely restored, as it is an undeniable and indispensable masterpiece, being definitely de Sica's most compassionate film, compassion pervades the film from the beginning to the end in constantly increasing fervour, and there are many scenes of unforgettably touching if not heartrending poignancy, the boy in the wheelchair and his way of descending the stairs, the passion of the pianist who loses the command of his right hand in the middle of a concert, the old lady with her concern for a family at war in constant harrowing conflict, the merry industrial worker who gets blinded for life, the scenes at the train station and in the train, and the grand finale in the cathedral, actually San Paolo fuori le mura in Rome, borrowed for the purpose of the film and transforming it into an equivalent to Lourdes, it's a very Catholic film, but compassion dominates everything Catholic here, giving it a universal significance and solemnity of the high communion of a large congregation - there are many actors and actresses here, and they are all indispensable for the whole. The film is a revelation of compassion and perhaps even de Sicat's most beautiful film.