Federico Fellini was put on the map as one of the world’s finest auteurs with his wide array of masterpieces from the ’50s, and “La Strada” is considered one of his finest.
It tells the story of a poor girl, Gelsomina, who learns her sister has died on the road with a traveling sideshow performer. Zampano, the performer with the lungs of steel, pays Gelsomina’s poor family 10,000 lire for her to come away with him, and she goes off into the world as a naive and simple girl ready to learn her life lessons. She loves being on the road and being an artist, but she dislikes Zampano, who’s cruel, insensitive and beats her.
The film is about how she learns to find her freedom and how everyone has a purpose, but she begins the film as no more than a loyal dog or a sheep, as Fellini so unsubtly refers to early on. A lesser film would make Zampano strictly one dimensional and would also be incapable of handling the amount of melodrama that in Fellini’s hands is perfectly convincing, natural and touching.
It also works because of Gelsomina’s (Giulietta Masina) wide range of expressions and emotions conveyed so simply by her. As a clown in Zampano’s show, she somehow reminded me of a female Chaplin. She’s often without words, has a warm and inviting smile and a pout that’s to die for. She’s a unique character who you can’t help but love and feel the deepest of empathy for.
“La Strada” is a moving and heartbreaking film once revered as one of the best ever made. It’s a must see.