If you're the director of a film, it doesn't help much to lose interest in it before it's finished. But that's what happened when Director Roberto Rossellini gave up on Dov'è la libertà? (otherwise known as Where is Freedom?), which was ultimately released in 1954 after other directors took up completing the project.
The film stars Toto who was considered the "Charlie Chaplin" of Italian cinema principally in the 50's and 60's. It's a comedy about a barber Salvatore Lo Jocono who is paroled from prison after serving 22 years for murdering a man in a "crime of passion' who "dishonored" his now deceased wife.
There's a framing device inside a courtroom in which we learn Salvatore was rearrested following his parole for breaking back into the very prison he was released from. Salvatore explains his actions to the judge which are related in a series of flashbacks.
Act 2 is roughly divided into three sections: 1) Salvatore's quest to meet a woman; 2) a failed attempt to find lodging and 3) a reunion with his in-laws whom he hasn't seen since they were children.
The comedy stems from Salvatore's mistaken belief that the world he finds upon his release will be better than what he experienced when he was in prison.
In the first section, the genial barber meets a tall woman and they go to a hall where a marathon dance festival is held. Appalled that the dancers who have been dancing for a few days practically non-stop and not being provided with any refreshments, he complains to the promoter.
In his first major disappointment, Salvatore agrees to pay for food for the dancers with his meagre savings with a promise from the promoter to be reimbursed the next day. But the promoter shuts down the entire event after the overall organizer fails to pay the rent. Not only does he lose most of his money but a bed as well as the dancers were permitting him to sleep in a room on the premises.
More disappointment is in store when a nasty landlady eventually puts him out on the street. To add insult to injury, the woman's browbeaten daughter (who Salvatore thought he might have a chance with) indifferently dismisses his plea for her help in getting the mother to change her mind.
Around this time in the narrative, Salvatore's meetup with an also recently released prison buddy almost ends in disaster when the ex-con tricks him into passsing counterfeit currency.
Salvatore finally believes he's been saved when he finds his wife's brothers who now have good jobs working at a slaughterhouse. They throw a party for him where he meets a man they refer to as a "brother-in-law." The way one of the brothers explains it, the man was a good friend of Salvatore's wife who helped her during her illness before her death.
Salvatore is willing to overlook the reality that the man was his wife's lover. But he cannot overlook the devastating information the man reveals which was Salvatore's wife manipulated her cuckolded husband into believing that the man he eventually killed had dishonored her. In actuality, the whole family knew the wife had grown tired of the man Salvatore ended up killing following an affair she was having with him.
Salvatore's naive belief that the family who took him in were benevolent souls is dashed when it's revealed his in-laws stole the property of a Jewish man whom they probably turned into the Germans during the war. Their idea is for Salvatore to lose his temper and possibly do in this Jewish man who has returned with threats of a lawsuit that could bankrupt them. When Salvatore learns what actually happened, he of course backs off.
The coup de grace occurs when the in-laws introduce Salvatore to a young woman, Agnesina (Vera Molinar), who he falls in love with and hopes to run away with. She however reveals she's now pregnant by the "old man" (the "brother-in-law"?) and intends to stay put as this will be her means of support.
During the climax Salvatore shouts down his attorney and begs to be incarcerrated. The prosecutor instead asks for a large fine as he doesn't want to give Salvatore the satisfaction of going back to prison which is what he has requested. But when Salvatore is unable to pay the fine, he ends up back at his old haunts anyway.
This is not "laugh out loud" humor by any measure but the depiction of widespread narccism in Italian society may result in a few chuckles here and there. Toto (also never really "laugh out loud" funny) manages to tackle the material in a perfunctory but occasionally amusing manner. On that basis, it earns my tepid recommendation.
The film stars Toto who was considered the "Charlie Chaplin" of Italian cinema principally in the 50's and 60's. It's a comedy about a barber Salvatore Lo Jocono who is paroled from prison after serving 22 years for murdering a man in a "crime of passion' who "dishonored" his now deceased wife.
There's a framing device inside a courtroom in which we learn Salvatore was rearrested following his parole for breaking back into the very prison he was released from. Salvatore explains his actions to the judge which are related in a series of flashbacks.
Act 2 is roughly divided into three sections: 1) Salvatore's quest to meet a woman; 2) a failed attempt to find lodging and 3) a reunion with his in-laws whom he hasn't seen since they were children.
The comedy stems from Salvatore's mistaken belief that the world he finds upon his release will be better than what he experienced when he was in prison.
In the first section, the genial barber meets a tall woman and they go to a hall where a marathon dance festival is held. Appalled that the dancers who have been dancing for a few days practically non-stop and not being provided with any refreshments, he complains to the promoter.
In his first major disappointment, Salvatore agrees to pay for food for the dancers with his meagre savings with a promise from the promoter to be reimbursed the next day. But the promoter shuts down the entire event after the overall organizer fails to pay the rent. Not only does he lose most of his money but a bed as well as the dancers were permitting him to sleep in a room on the premises.
More disappointment is in store when a nasty landlady eventually puts him out on the street. To add insult to injury, the woman's browbeaten daughter (who Salvatore thought he might have a chance with) indifferently dismisses his plea for her help in getting the mother to change her mind.
Around this time in the narrative, Salvatore's meetup with an also recently released prison buddy almost ends in disaster when the ex-con tricks him into passsing counterfeit currency.
Salvatore finally believes he's been saved when he finds his wife's brothers who now have good jobs working at a slaughterhouse. They throw a party for him where he meets a man they refer to as a "brother-in-law." The way one of the brothers explains it, the man was a good friend of Salvatore's wife who helped her during her illness before her death.
Salvatore is willing to overlook the reality that the man was his wife's lover. But he cannot overlook the devastating information the man reveals which was Salvatore's wife manipulated her cuckolded husband into believing that the man he eventually killed had dishonored her. In actuality, the whole family knew the wife had grown tired of the man Salvatore ended up killing following an affair she was having with him.
Salvatore's naive belief that the family who took him in were benevolent souls is dashed when it's revealed his in-laws stole the property of a Jewish man whom they probably turned into the Germans during the war. Their idea is for Salvatore to lose his temper and possibly do in this Jewish man who has returned with threats of a lawsuit that could bankrupt them. When Salvatore learns what actually happened, he of course backs off.
The coup de grace occurs when the in-laws introduce Salvatore to a young woman, Agnesina (Vera Molinar), who he falls in love with and hopes to run away with. She however reveals she's now pregnant by the "old man" (the "brother-in-law"?) and intends to stay put as this will be her means of support.
During the climax Salvatore shouts down his attorney and begs to be incarcerrated. The prosecutor instead asks for a large fine as he doesn't want to give Salvatore the satisfaction of going back to prison which is what he has requested. But when Salvatore is unable to pay the fine, he ends up back at his old haunts anyway.
This is not "laugh out loud" humor by any measure but the depiction of widespread narccism in Italian society may result in a few chuckles here and there. Toto (also never really "laugh out loud" funny) manages to tackle the material in a perfunctory but occasionally amusing manner. On that basis, it earns my tepid recommendation.