In "The Bike Stealer", Desika focused the camera on the middle-aged man. For work and for the livelihood of his family, he wandered the streets looking for stolen bicycles and eventually became a thief. In "Shoe Shine Boy", Desika focuses the camera on the children, who are also walking on the streets in order to survive, doing all they can to make money, living a dark life in prison, abandoned by God, and teased by the times. In this "Candle and Tears of the Wind", Desika focuses the camera on the old and lonely old man, a well-dressed but distressed retired old man—Humberto.
It is still a post-war era, with the pressure of survival looming over the city. Humberto and a group of elderly people chanted to increase their pensions in front of the government, but in the end they only got expelled and chased by the police. He took his pocket watch and sold it to people everywhere, just to sell a good price to pay the rent he owed. Although the income from selling the pocket watch was only a drop in the money, he couldn't stay in the house where he had lived for 20 years. Do not do your best. He even sold his book at a low price to raise the debt, but the ruthless landlady showed no sympathy for this elderly widow. She only left Humberto one way: or pay the rent in one go. , Or get out. He borrowed money from former friends on the road, but was rejected without exception. He wanted to beg, but his pride prevented him from reaching out. The days of wandering on the streets are coming. Humberto is lying on the bed with a hopeless life in front of him, while the landlady next door is having a party with her boyfriend and a group of middle-class friends and performing an opera. Such a strong contrast reflects the desolation of the old man, the indifference of the landlady and the opposition of classes.
The kindness in the film comes from Humberto’s pet dog and the landlady’s maid Maria. Maria was the only person who gave Humberto's care and sympathy. When Humberto was hospitalized with a fever due to a long hungry stomach, Maria was the only person to visit him and took the dog outside the hospital to let Humberto Too can see his pet dog in the ward. But besides that, she can't provide more help, because they are all at the bottom of society and are facing an extremely uncertain future. Maria is pregnant, but she doesn't know which of the two men the father of the child is. This is her first trouble. The second annoyance is that if the landlady knows that she is pregnant, she will fire her and drive her away, which is 100% what will happen. So Humberto and Maria can warm each other, but they cannot pull each other out of the quagmire. The only thing Humberto cared about was his dog. When he came back from the hospital, the wall of the room had been smashed through a big hole, and the dog had lost track. He eagerly came to the pet shelter to find his pet dog, and brought the dog to the landlady and told her that the dog was not dead. This was the moment when his voice was the most passionate and his waist straightest, because he found his only "family" back. But the dilemma of survival made him finally have to make the most difficult choice. He wanted to die, so he planned to hand over the dog to others, but in the end he didn't negotiate. Then he entrusted the dog to the little girl playing in the park and the girl's family, but he was still rejected. He sneaked away while the dog was not paying attention, but the faithful dog finally ran back to him. He picked up the dog and stood by the rails, trying to meet the impact of the train, but when faced with death, the dog broke free from his embrace and fled to the side in horror. The dog chose to live. It is not a human being and cannot experience the pain and despair unique to humans. But its desire for life also infected Humberto, who was desperate for death. He took pine cones to tease the dog who was still in panic, and finally the movie ended with the old man and the dog going away. The dog saved himself and Humberto. The end of the story is not sad, but there is no hope.
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