La Magnani makes you feel her presence in a way that is so immediate,so essential and so relevant that you can't turn your mind and your eyes from what she is playing.I have always thought she was the best of all Italian actresses in history.Pairing her with Giuletta Masina is cause for celebration.Their performances take the movie out on a level of stratospheric intensity that simply rises above what is finally a derivative screenplay: women in jail is a hackneyed subject.
Masina's character is particularly interesting: during the cast and credits ,she is a pure heroine ,a victim of fate who enters a world she fears ;the story shows how a life in jail can turn a vapid virgin into a self-assured bitch."I owe everything to you" she tells a desperate Magnani who behind her crudeness hid a sensitiveness which explodes in the last sequences .If you like great actresses,this movie was made for you.
Masina's character is particularly interesting: during the cast and credits ,she is a pure heroine ,a victim of fate who enters a world she fears ;the story shows how a life in jail can turn a vapid virgin into a self-assured bitch."I owe everything to you" she tells a desperate Magnani who behind her crudeness hid a sensitiveness which explodes in the last sequences .If you like great actresses,this movie was made for you.