Fifty years of Italian cinema (1955)

56 his companions half naked, having given his robe to one poorer than be. There is the praise of « Brother Fiore » and the visit of Sister Chiara, and the kissing of the leper. We see Fra' Ginepro asking « brother pig » for one of his feet, so that he can make a little broth for a sick Brother. The choice of the « fioretti » might in itself be discussed at length. But in any case only a consummate artist could have turned these pages into a film which would reflect a true picture of the Franciscan world. Rossellini takes the theme, episode by episode, and with his confidence and wisdom, with an air of utter spontaneity, gives us stories in two dimensions — ■ the third is lacking. They are illustrations to accompany a text which should already be known to the spectator. To a person thoroughly acquainted with Saint Francis and the Franciscan mode of thought, these images might reveal many meanings. Stromboli (Italian title : Stromboli, God's Earth) and St. Francis of Assist (Italian title : St. Francis, God's Minstrel) live and breathe a strange self -justification on the part of Rossellini. He believed that by taking themes and personalities with a universal significance, he could overcome his restlessness and uncertainty. He believed that the bigger and more imposing the pretension and proportions, the better they would fill the void of the screen. And the confirmation of this belief may be found in his next picture, Europa '51 (The Greatest L,ove) which puts before us not a man, but a woman, to play the « minstrel of God », wandering in a nebulous atmosphere of soul-searching. From a starting point at once general and vital (the blind egotism of the individual) rises the concrete figure of a woman caught in a series of dramatic situations. The only son of this woman, Irene, feeling himself unwanted, kills himself. In desperation, she is drawn to the misery of others, moving like a sleepwalker amidst the humble and the poor. She becomes involved with a young delinquent, lover r)i a girl she has taken under her wing. He has just taken part in a theft, and although everyone urges him to give himself up, Irene convinces him of the wisdom of fleeing. Irene is arrested as an accomplice. The examining magistrate asks her if she is a communist, to which she answers negatively. He then asks her if she wishes to be a missionary, and again the answer is no. The magistrate cannot understand this woman. She must be mentally ill. So we see her for the last time behind the bars of an insane asylum — after her family, her priest, her doctor and the magistrate, have declared her mad. In spite of a magnificent performance by Ingrid Bergman, there are great disproportions between the character of the people in this story and their backgrounds ; between their assumptions and their action. This Irene, who wishes to present herself as a symbol of martyred Europe at the beginning of the second half of the century, is literally incredible. The individual who does not declare himself for one of the two dominating and opposed forces, is crushed — in this story he is declared mad. Instinctive artist that he is, Rossellini wanted to construct a drama of human symbolism. As the so-called « inventor » of the « neo-realism » of the Italian screen, he felt a responsibility which may have forced him to continue working in a similar vein. It would not do for him to fall into the style of the conventional. But he must always be considered one of Italy's most gifted directors, nor is the possibility of further important surprises from Rossellini to be excluded.