|
By PAUL BRENNER
Vittorio De Sica's
neorealist classic about a retired pensioner and
his dog, struggling for survival in post-World War
II Italy without friends, family or acquaintances
, has been released through Criterion in a
brilliant and sharp transfer (certainly the best
print of the film these tired eyes have seen).
Pauline Kael has written that "Umberto D." goes "a
long way toward making us aware of what it is to
be a man -- and also, for that matter, of what it
is to be a dog." De Sica, with his screenwriting
collaborator Cesare Zavattini, has created a
simple and moving tale of loneliness and
alienation and De Sica's employment of non-actors
and direct location sounds (with no post-dubbing
in the studio) creates a direct current of realism
structured into a picaresque tale of endurance in
old age. It is the tiny nuances that give "Umberto
D." the emotional truth so lacking in other films
in the neorealist canon -- a housekeeper sets a
newspaper on fire to kill the bugs crawling on the
kitchen walls, Umberto is forced to buy a cheap
glass in order to get change to pay a cab driver
who won't make change (and then immediately casts
the glass to the street after getting his change
and paying the driver), a despicable glance from a
matron on a park bench. If De Sica's mannered
compositions on the surface appear to work against
the "dailiness" being depicted in "Umberto D.,"
the matter-of-fact lack of sentimentality and
banality in the film (a difficult tightrope trick
to maneuver) makes De Sica's poetry part of the
disheartening landscape of hopes and dreams never
attained.
The extras include an interview with actress Maria
Pia Casilio (who plays the housekeeper in the
film), written reflections on "Umberto D." by
novelist Umberto Eco, assistant director Luisa
Alexandri, and actor Carlo Battisti (the non-actor
retired college professor whom De Sica discovered
to play Umberto Domenico Ferrari in the film).
Also included is a wonderful Italian documentary
about Vittorio De Sica that reveals De Sica to be,
not only a master filmmaker, but also a master
charmer. |
