We see true directorial talent budding in the form of Vittorio de Sica in this near-masterpiece. He would go on to direct at least two genuine masterpieces (and others might include other films that I either had a problem with or I haven't yet seen, e.g., Shoeshine), The Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D. The Children are Watching has a couple of flaws, but it ends up being so emotionally powerful that those might escape you.
Like The Bicycle Thieves (and like Shoeshine, from what I hear), The Children are Watching takes the point of view of a young child, Prico. His parents' marriage is falling apart - his mother is in love with (and eventually leaves with) her lover, Roberto. His father is a surprisingly sensitive and loving man who is destroyed by his wife's infidelity. Of course, Prico can hardly understand this. Eventually, after Prico gets deathly ill (a fever hallucination that the boy has seems suspiciously like Dorothy's tornado fantasy in The Wizard of Oz to me - even some of the music seemed similar; hmmm...), his mother returns because she can't stand being away from her son. Although her husband wants her to get out of his life, Prico is too insistent that she stays, so she moves back in. After a few months, Prico has recovered and his father and mother have begun to love each other again.
The main flaw of this film is the fact that, because the point of view so adamantly sticks to Prico, we're never able to learn much about his parents. His father is better developed than his mother. We never get to learn much of the mother's point of view, and in the end, she seems like a simple tramp without any other motive.
Like I said, though, the ending is so powerful that you won't notice this much. However, if the mother's character had been opened a bit more to the audience, that beautiful kick-in-the-teeth final shot would have been doubly as powerful, with the audience experiencing the emotions both from Prico's point of view and his mother's. Vittorio de Sica, at least in these neorealist films, has a marvelous knack for hitting the audience where it hurts with the ending. The Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D had two of the most powerful, poignant, and complex endings ever made. The Children are Watching is equal to those in this way. Just thinking about it now brings me to tears. Seek this film out if you can. It's well worth it. 9/10
Like The Bicycle Thieves (and like Shoeshine, from what I hear), The Children are Watching takes the point of view of a young child, Prico. His parents' marriage is falling apart - his mother is in love with (and eventually leaves with) her lover, Roberto. His father is a surprisingly sensitive and loving man who is destroyed by his wife's infidelity. Of course, Prico can hardly understand this. Eventually, after Prico gets deathly ill (a fever hallucination that the boy has seems suspiciously like Dorothy's tornado fantasy in The Wizard of Oz to me - even some of the music seemed similar; hmmm...), his mother returns because she can't stand being away from her son. Although her husband wants her to get out of his life, Prico is too insistent that she stays, so she moves back in. After a few months, Prico has recovered and his father and mother have begun to love each other again.
The main flaw of this film is the fact that, because the point of view so adamantly sticks to Prico, we're never able to learn much about his parents. His father is better developed than his mother. We never get to learn much of the mother's point of view, and in the end, she seems like a simple tramp without any other motive.
Like I said, though, the ending is so powerful that you won't notice this much. However, if the mother's character had been opened a bit more to the audience, that beautiful kick-in-the-teeth final shot would have been doubly as powerful, with the audience experiencing the emotions both from Prico's point of view and his mother's. Vittorio de Sica, at least in these neorealist films, has a marvelous knack for hitting the audience where it hurts with the ending. The Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D had two of the most powerful, poignant, and complex endings ever made. The Children are Watching is equal to those in this way. Just thinking about it now brings me to tears. Seek this film out if you can. It's well worth it. 9/10