Previous to this I had only seen 8½ and La Dolce Vita and felt that Fellini's bombastic, unfocussed, cynical and scatter-shot style really wasn't for me. 8½ I liked in parts but my distaste for La Dolce Vita (and subsequently being the lone voice of dissent [and I would argue 'reason'] in my film class at university for which we were required to watch the film) led me to more or less write Fellini off as 'not for me'.

It would be fair to say then, that going into La Strada I had low expectations. Oh boy, how pleasantly surprised I was when the film ended. La Strada is a wonderful film and one that really displays Fellini's compassion and…

I've been peeking at Fellini's films for quite some time now and until today there was always something to hold me back from watching any of them. As it turns out it was just me being terribly foolish yet again, because La strada is an affecting drama focusing on the relationship between two very different people. Gelsomina, who is wonderfully portrayed by Giulietta Masina, is a shy and warmhearted woman unsure of her purpose in a world still affected by WWII. She is bought by the horrendous Zampano, himself traveling artist, and on her journey through italy is subjected to both physical and mental pain at the hands of Zampano.

The set-up may sound horribly black and white but Fellini…

La Strada, translated to English like The Road and to Portuguese as the awful title of Estrada da Vida (The Road of Life), was the fourth film from Frederico Fellini. In this film it's already clear to the audience some of the elements we would see in his most famous works: the circus, the symbolism, the female importance and the originality of this incredible filmmaker who created a very personal style exactly when everyone around him was jumping in the Neo-Realism car.

Not that he was completely away from it. This film has some important neo-realistic characteristics, such as the out-doors scenarios and the raw portrayal of life.

La Strada is almost a fairy-tale. Stereotyped characters, simple plot and moral…

I was not all that moved by the film as it opened and moved along. I hated Quinn's character, and though I was moved aesthetically by Masina's performance as Gelsomina, I was not seeing what made the film so tremendous. But, the farther it went along, I started to see, with the decisions Gelsomina made to stay with Zampano, even though it would probably be best for her not to, that the film was basically a metaphor itself for every single life and what it means as we move along, living our lives, making the decisions we do. Are we loved? Do we matter? What does our life represent as we go on down the road? etc. (The conversation she…

I saw La Strada again last night, this time on the big screen. I can never get enough of Giulietta Masina's face and never has Anthony Quinn been as much of a bad ass. Gelsomina is like an angel, too good for this world and unfortunately she ends up in the hands of one of the greatest monsters, believing it to be her calling.

I would not say that Gelsomina is the most obvious Christ figure in film history but I think there is a parallel there. SPOILERS: She stays with Zampanò while everyone else would have given up on him (she is given 3 chances to leave him) - and her life, sacrifice and death has a redemptive effect…

My very first Fellini film and what a terribly, terribly sad one it is. Giulietta Masina is completely heartbreaking... something about those big innocent eyes. While I was ranking this on Flickchart, one of the match-up comments had it paired against Breaking the Waves, and I absolutely see the connection. Both are about women who keep choosing to stay in very psychologically abusive relationships. Although La Strada didn't break me as much as Breaking the Waves did, I still felt very connected to the story. I'm still processing it, and I feel I will be for some time, so I'm sure this review is a little rambly. Let it be said that I really enjoyed La Strada and will have…