"The Road" in Books

Rosemary 2022-03-22 09:02:01

Every day is a good day: 15 kinds of happiness brought by the tea ceremony
8.4
Noriko Morishita / 2017 / Cultural Development Press

When I was in fifth grade, my parents took me to see the film La Strada (1954) directed by Federico Fellini. This is a film that depicts poor jugglers, and it is rather dark and dark. At that time, I couldn't understand the mood that the director wanted to express at all.

"How can such a movie be called a business card! It's better to watch Disney cartoons."

But ten years later, when I watched this movie again when I was in college, the impact on my heart was quite big. I remember that the title of the film was changed to "The Question of Jesso Mina", and the content was exactly the same as what I saw when I was a child.

"The Great Road, it turns out to be such a movie!"

After watching it, I felt very sad, so I had to hide in the dark place of the movie theater and cry alone.

After that, I fell in love, experienced the pain of falling out of love, and even experienced the setbacks of unsatisfactory work, but I continued to pursue my own existence. Although life was ordinary, more than ten years passed in a hurry. When I was thirty-five years old, I read "The Great Road" again.

"Huh? Was there such a picture before?"

There are pictures that have never been seen and lines that have never been heard. Giulietta Masina (Giulietta Masina) realistic acting, played the innocent heroine Jesso Mina, but her tragic experience, heartbreaking. When Zampano, who was dying, knew that the woman he had abandoned was dead, he trembled and wept on the seashore at night. This scene makes people feel that he is not a heartless man, and only has the feeling of "sorrow in the world", which makes people feel sour.

Fellini's "The Great Road" always has a new feeling every time I watch it, and the more I read it, the more profound it is.

View more about La Strada reviews

Extended Reading

La Strada quotes

  • Zampanò: [reciting his act by rote before a crowd] Here we have a piece of chain that is a quarter of an inch thick. It is made of crude iron, stronger than steel. With the simple expansion of my pectoral muscles, or chest, that is, I'll break the hook.

    [collecting money from the crowd]

    Zampanò: Thank you, thank you. Now, to do this feat, I must fill myself up like a tire. If a blood vessel should break, I would spit blood. For instance, in Milan a man weighing 240 pounds lost his eyesight doing this trick. That is because the optical nerves take a beating, and once you lose your eyes, you are finished. If there's any delicate person in the audience, I would advise him to look away 'cause there could be blood.

    [with seemingly great effort, he breaks the chain]

  • Gelsomina's Mother: She's not like Rosa. But she's a good girl, poor thing. She'll do what she's told. She just came out a little strange. But, if she eats every day, maybe she'll get better.