Academy Awards, USA 1957
| Nominee Oscar | Best Writing, Motion Picture Story Cesare Zavattini |
Dear Film
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)
An elderly retiree in Rome struggles to make ends meet on his pension. He lives in a rented room with a horrid landlady who demands he immediately pay off his debts or get evicted. He tries to raise the money in pawn shops, borrowing from friends, and finally by begging on the streets. Still short, he feigns serious illness and gets admitted to a hospital for a few days. After release, he finds his room being torn apart and remodeled. Back on the streets, he begins to contemplate suicide but first must find a home for his little pet dog. However, the tables are turned and it is the dog who ultimately saves him. Simple and obvious story lacks the dramatic inertia of say Bicycle Thieves, which De Sica had made only 5 years earlier, but is still an important film in Italian neorealism.
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