Some people call this the first Neo-realist film...some give that wonderful prize to Open City. I wouldn't be surprised if some other films also get nominated for that category. At any rate, this film is definitely early Neo-realist, and in fact is more like a prototype of the genre. It contains a social message and doesn't attempt to show Italian society as an upper class wonder of the world, but it still is focused on the upper class and it lacks a lot of the grittiness that makes Neo-realism so impactive.
The English title given to it is the very message of the movie: our children are watching us as we dissolve the family. The adults in this film are well-meaning and not necessarily bad, but taken by vice and dysfunction they are slowly deconstructing the family unit. What does that mean to the future of the Italians, and what does it mean to the nation? Those are the issues this film takes on.
The acting is superb and the cinematography is pretty good. Some of it didn't seem to mesh as well as other parts. The fever dream was excellent cinematography but cut away from the theme of the clear-sightedness of childhood. Some moments seemed rather superfluous, such as the train. Neo-realism was filled with digressions and attempts at real movement through space, but this movie seemed to try to put importance on the train (danger, perhaps, martyrdom maybe) that I don't really feel was there.
It's definitely an important movie that is of the very sort that people who like to be well-versed in film will probably want to see. I don't think it actually holds up that well over time, however. It's more of interest to form rather than vitality.
--PolarisDiB
The English title given to it is the very message of the movie: our children are watching us as we dissolve the family. The adults in this film are well-meaning and not necessarily bad, but taken by vice and dysfunction they are slowly deconstructing the family unit. What does that mean to the future of the Italians, and what does it mean to the nation? Those are the issues this film takes on.
The acting is superb and the cinematography is pretty good. Some of it didn't seem to mesh as well as other parts. The fever dream was excellent cinematography but cut away from the theme of the clear-sightedness of childhood. Some moments seemed rather superfluous, such as the train. Neo-realism was filled with digressions and attempts at real movement through space, but this movie seemed to try to put importance on the train (danger, perhaps, martyrdom maybe) that I don't really feel was there.
It's definitely an important movie that is of the very sort that people who like to be well-versed in film will probably want to see. I don't think it actually holds up that well over time, however. It's more of interest to form rather than vitality.
--PolarisDiB