Amore

Roberto Rossellini freely admitted that the two films that make up this opus were designed as a showcase for the talents of his then partner and muse Anna Magnani. Neither film could be said to have had an easy ride as 'Il Miracolo' was banned in America thanks to that self-appointed guardian of morality, the crackpot Catholic League of Decency whilst 'Voce Umana' was not widely shown because of copyright issues with Jean Cocteau's original play.

Ingmar Bergman once said that the greatest contribution to the art of film is the well lit, well directed and well acted close-up. This is certainly true of 'Voce Umana' in which a woman alone in her apartment is desperately trying to salvage a doomed relationship over the telephone and whose agony is intensified by the phone constantly cutting off. The almost microscopic close-ups here hold no fears for Signora Magnani who is utterly riveting. Although this is a shortened version of Cocteau's original it is no less effective and her intensely emotional performance is aided by Eraldo da Roma's dynamic editing and the use of light and dark by cinematographer Otello Martelli. None of us likes rejection of course but one does feel at times like shouting out 'pull yourself together woman, he's obviously not worth it'.

Most directors never find a muse whereas Rossellini had the good fortune to have not one but two. 'Voce umana' is even more poignant, in retrospect, as he left Magnani two years later for muse#2 Ingrid Bergman. Ironically Miss Bergman was to give a powerhouse performance in a longer version of this piece on American television in 1966.

'Il Miracolo' is quite frankly not as accomplished a film. As in so many of his neo-realist films Rossellini is again playing puppet master to a supporting cast mainly composed of 'real people', that is to say non-professionals who cannot act and who are obviously 'dubbed'. The jury is still out on Fellini's acting abilities! Its rawness and immediacy still pack a punch thanks to Anna Magnani's stupendous portrayal of simpleton Nannina, the camerawork of Aldo Tonti and to another powerful score from Rossellini's brother Renzo.

The true 'miracle' of this piece is that the eventual lifting of its ban, based upon the principle of free expression, marked the beginning of the end for film censorship.

Regarding the wondrous Magnani let us leave the last word to William Dieterle who directed her in 'Volcano' at the same time as Rossellini was directing Bergman in 'Stromboli'. "She was the last of the great, shameless emotionalists."

Contrary to the previous reviewer, "The Miracle" WAS released in New York City at the Paris Theater in 1950 (it was part of a 2-film anthology called "The Ways of Love"). It did well at the box office and went on to win Best Foreign Film from the NY Film Critics.

Cardinal Spellman objected to the film and denounced it in print. Since the film had already passed the NY censorship board without objection, he put pressure on the owner of the Paris Theater to stop showing the film before he was able to get the censorship board to reverse itself.

The film's distributor, Joseph Burstyn, went to court to defend the film and the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling in 1952, decided the censorship board had violated the Constitution's separation of church and state clause and, furthermore, reversed its 1915 Mutual Film vs. Ohio ruling and determined that film was protected under the First Amendment.

L'Amore is divided into two parts, the first called "A Human Voice", and the second named "The Miracle". Anna Magnani is wonderful at both. The first episode is about love and sadness. A woman is pursuing for a man who does not love her any longer. The whole episode occurs whitin a bedroom, with Anna and a telephone. The dialogue of Anna with her ex-husband is simply fantastic and very emotive. The second episode, more cryptic and stronger, shows us a medieval Italian town with all its beliefs and supersticions. A woman, Anna Magnani again, makes remember us the mistery of creation, with symbolic references to some christian icons (as virgins, poor people, saints, etc.). In sum, this is a wonderful film.

After the opening credits we see a title that says "This film is an homage to the art of Anna Magnani" and that's exactly what this powerful Rossellini film is about. Magnani dominates both sections of "L'Amore" and is quite remarkable. In the first section which is called "Una Voce Umana"(The Human Voice), Magnani plays a woman in her bedroom who makes a desperate telephone call with her former husband. It is mostly comprised of close-ups of Magnani's grieving face, anticipating those of Rossellini's films starring Ingrid Bergman. In the second section, "Il Maracolo"(The Miracle), Magnani is a peasant who meets and is seduced by a vagabond whom she thinks is Saint Joseph. Though the villagers incessantly ridicule her, she thinks is pregnant with a Christ baby, something that angered the censors and religious groups, ultimately dubbing as "blasphemous". "The Miracle" section is by far the most powerful and provocative". It is characterized by overt Christian symbolism and some gorgeous shots of the countryside. Rossellini makes the viewer aware of the overpowering presence of the environment, itself another character. The scenes where Magnani is lying on the ground surrounded by animals are particularly ravishing and beautiful.

Initially banned in the UK, only the section entitled THE MIRACLE was shown by special permission of the London County Council. Somehow people seem to persist in interpreting the story as a Second Coming narrative, whereas the character played by Anna Magnani only believes she is to bear a "special" child as a reward for her piety. There is not a shred of evidence to suggest she believes she is carrying the Christ-child. Dubbed by the Vatican as "a sacrilegious blasphemy", it is ironic that, as an atheist, the power and emotional intensity of this film brought me the closest I have ever been to what could perhaps be termed a transcendental experience. A masterpiece.