"Road" is Fellini's third independently directed film. Prior to this, although he had been in the film for 15 years, and he had a small reputation for participating in the screenwriting of famous neo-realist films such as "Rome, an Unfortified City", "Guerillas", "Two Cents of Hope" and other famous neo-realist films. However, as a director, he has only filmed two films, "The White Chief" and "Lang Danger", with mediocre results and failed to attract people's attention.
When the script for "The Road" was just completed, Ponti and Laurentiis first refused to vote for it, believing that it lacked box office value, and then suggested that Laurentiis’s wife Silvano Mangano and Burt Lankai Stir came to play the leading role. But Fellini insisted not to modify the script and insisted on starring his wife Julieta Marcina and Anthony Quinn. Finally, Ponti and Laurentiis gave in. And no one expected that after the film was made, not only did it sell well both at home and abroad, but also in the years that followed, it won record-breaking awards at more than 50 international film festivals, making Fellini a leap. Become a well-known film director. Following "The Road", Fellini has successively filmed "The Liar" (1955) and "Night of Kabylia" (also translated "She in the Dark", 1957), completing his "Lonely Three" song".
Fellini is a controversial director. The reason why he caused controversy is because: first, his films have mixed successes and failures, with great fluctuations in quality; second, as a screenwriter, he participated in the formulation of some creative principles of Italian neorealism films. For example, he is highly concerned about the political and economic situation of ordinary people in Italy, and truly expresses their daily lives. However, as a director, he has been the first to deviate from the path of neorealism starting from "The Road", downplaying politics, and turning inward in character portrayal. More and more towards psychological mysticism ("8⅟2", "Band Rehearsal", etc.).
"Road" is recognized as a turning point in Italian post-war films. It has taken a compelling first step in the internalization and personalization of aesthetic perspectives, and the anti-dramaticization and anti-plotting of techniques. In a sense, it is a guide for Western modernist films that emerged in the mid-1950s, and its novel and unique creative spirit is also one of the main reasons why it has won so many international awards. However, there are many people who oppose it and criticize it fiercely, especially among the older generation of neorealists. Some Italian politicians also strongly protested that the government agreed to export this film that "depicts the despicableness and immorality of ordinary Italian citizens." Of course, the root cause of the differences of opinion is the different political positions or the different concepts of film functions, and as far as the aesthetic integrity of the film itself is concerned, "Road" is a work that cannot be ignored anyway.
"Road" describes the poor life of wandering entertainers. As far as the subject matter is concerned, it does not seem to depart from the scope of neorealism. However, a major difference between it and the neorealism films of the early 1950s is that it is completely different. Ignore the social content of the subject matter. The economic situation of Zangbano and the "lunatic" is indeed miserable, but their suffering has nothing to do with their material life or political situation. The former is the incarnation of animality. He hardly knows what pain is. He killed the "madman" not out of emotional jealousy, but out of professional inferiority. He only learned of the death of Gelsomina many years later. It was only then that there was an "outbreak of human nature" suddenly. The latter suffers from loneliness, and because his delicate feelings can't find support, but this is a kind of pain that is hidden deep inside and can only be understood. On the surface, he still lives very chicly.
As the protagonist of the film, Gersomina has low intelligence, is satisfied with food and clothing, and is resigned to everything. Her feelings for "lunatics" and disappointment with Zambano are just the primary sprouting of humanity in her, and it is her as a woman. The dim awakening of value. Although these three characters have their own representativeness or symbolism: animality, cruelty (Zambano), wisdom, imagination ("lunatic") and self-sacrifice, love (Gersomina), but they concentrated on showing one Thought: The desire to love and be loved is the basic quality of human nature. Fellini once said on this basic theme of his film: "If you understand Christianity as love for others, then all my films are developed around this theme. I express a lack of love. People are exploiting the world of human beings, but there are always some people who are different from others who need to give love to others and live for love.” Gelsomina died of the loss of love, and Zambano was on the deserted beach The stern cry of love is a confession of love, and the killing of a "lunatic" is essentially a symbol of the sacrifice of love. So Fellini said, "The Way" is a religious fable, and "the madman" represents Christ.
As a consistent feature of Fellini's works, the autobiographical nature also clearly exists in The Road. Starting from his first film "The White Chief", Fellini used his experience of making a living by drawing comics to write about a female reader who was fascinated by the comics and met the hero in the painting. "Lang Dang Er" describes the life of his own teenage years, the empty hearts of teenagers who wander on the streets all day long. The life of an acrobat in "Road" is also part of Fellini's life experience. In his youth, he wandered the rivers and lakes with a traveling acrobatics troupe for several years. He was deeply impressed by the kindness, simplicity of the wandering buskers and their close-to-nature lifestyle, and he praised them. Whether it is Zambano, "lunatic" or Jersomina, they are indeed fictional characters, but they are "natural persons" who are not bound by the "accumulated evils" of any civilization (wealth, education, culture, ideology, etc.) In a civilized society, they must be absolutely lonely people. Their identity undoubtedly reflects his infinite attachment to the life of wandering artists.
Therefore, when we talk about the autobiographical nature of Fellini's films, it does not entirely mean that he, as a director, used some of his personal experience to make the film more real. What Fellini pursues in "The Road" is not truth, but to express what he has accumulated in his heart over the years: calling on people to use love to eliminate loneliness.
The aesthetic integrity of "The Road" is also reflected in the excellent performances of Marcina and Quinn, Mattley's beautiful black and white photography, and Rota's soundtrack that has become a Western classic. Zambano, played by Quinn, is recognized as one of the most successful images of the Mexican actor's long career. Before playing Zambano, Quinn had played a supporting role in Hollywood for 20 years as a "Mexican". Although he won the Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in "Long Live Chabad", But basically it is always a "genre actor" that has been seriously ignored. It was only after playing Zambano that Quinn’s acting talent was valued and became a well-known international actor. Quinn appears rough, violent, and aggressive in "The Road," but his bestial behavior does not give people a sense of evil, on the contrary, it arouses people's pity and sighs.
Julieta Massina, who is known as the "Female Chaplin" in the West, is by no means a comedy character, but this quasi-idiot girl has many "natural" antics, even including her being hid Barno's silly sleep when he abandoned it under the wall was enough to cause tearful laughter from the audience. Mathina has a natural funny face, a pair of round "cow eyes" is especially unforgettable. As Jersomina, these talented conditions can easily bring disasters, which greatly dilutes this tragic character. Deep sympathy that should have aroused. Massina's ease of grasping the overlapping lines and dividing lines of the sorrow and joy effects has played an important role in guaranteeing the great success of "Road". In Fellini's "Lonely Trilogy", Marcina has always been the leading actress, and her performance in "Cabylia Night" also earned her the best actress at the Cannes International Film Festival prize.
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