La Strada shows Fellini almost in utero, or in the birth canal, on his way out to becoming the later showman Fellini of the 1960s and 1970s, as symbolism creeps into his seemingly neo-realistic tale of a wannabe circus strongman character, Zampano (Anthony Quinn), the man with ‘lungs of steel’, whose schtick is popping an iron chain with his chest’s expansion, but is really just a low level street parody of such, and the mentally deficient young woman, Gelsomina (Masina), he buys from a poor Italian family for about $10, or ten thousand lire. We soon find out that she is the second daughter that the brute has purchased from them. The older sister of Gelsomina, Rosa, never seen in the film but whose presence has a profound impact, was earlier purchased and died. We never learn how, but suspect that it had something to do with Zampano’s rage at a possible affair she had with a character the film later introduces, Richard Basehart’s nameless Fool, a high wire performer who needles Zampano relentlessly, recklessly, and always gets the dumb brute reaction he desires.
As in Nights Of Cabiria, this film is a picaresque that simply follows these poor souls across Italy in Zampano’s bedraggled little caravan/covered wagon, towed by his cheap motorcycle. Despite his early rape of her, his cheating on her, his physical and emotional abuse, Gelsomina somehow feels that she has a duty to Zampano — perhaps out of family honor, or the fact that he often claims her as a common law wife to strangers who might frown upon a young woman living so reckless a life with an obviously older man. We never really find out why. Of course, women often masochistically stay with men who use and abuse them for they lack the self-confidence and self-knowledge to leave. In this sense, La Strada is clearly a realistic film, psychologically speaking.
On the plus side, Zampano does teach Gelsomina a trade, being an entertainer, and she quickly becomes the star of their act. Masina’s affinities to Charlie Chaplin, which would haunt her career, are clearly seen in an early scene where Zampano gives her some outfits, and she chooses a black bowler quite like The Tramp’s, and even makes Chaplinesque facial and bodily motions. When she finally leaves Zampano, she first encounters The Fool, with his high wire act, as hundreds watch him in a town square. We cannot tell whether she is smitten with him romantically, or merely fascinatedly, as a child. Zampano soon retrieves her and forces her back into his employ, and the two join a traveling circus, where The Fool, an unexplainedly bitter man, is now performing. The antipathy between the two men is palpable, and Zampano won’t even let Gelsomina perform a musical act with him, with her trumpet, to make some extra money. The final straw between them comes when The Fool heckles Zampano’s strongman routine at the circus. After a few more scenes, Zampano even tries to kill The Fool, and is carted off to jail for using a knife.
Article comments
1 - Rodney Welch
I think the Kael comment is kinda brilliant. I've never heard that said before.
2 - Harkiran
thank you. absolutely marvellous:)