Classic Movie Review: The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room Presents 'La Strada'

On June 13th, 2022, Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room hosted a free online screening of Federico Fellini’s remarkable 1954 romantic tragedy, La Strada. It’s the second free online restoration screening for Scorsese and The Film Foundation and they are going to be doing this once a month for anyone who loves classic films fully restored to their glory by The Film Foundation. And thanks to The Film Foundation, La Strada is another Fellini movie off of my bucket list of classics.

La Strada begins on a tragedy and ends on a tragedy. In the beginning of the story we find our protagonist, Gelsomina (Giulieta Masina), idly gathering sticks on the beach. Gelsomina is called home for some terrible news. Gelsomina’s sister has died in some far off town. The man who had left with her sister so many years ago, Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a sideshow performer, is now back at her family home requesting the company of Gelsomina to take her sister’s place. He’s given Gelsomina’s mother 10,000 lire for her.

Gelsomina will travel with Zampano in his ramshackle motorcycle caravan and act as his assistant during his strongman performances. The brutish Zampano has an act in which he breaks a chain wrapped around his chest using only his pectoral muscles. He also does some comedy skits before passing the hat around for that day's pay. He does relatively well for himself, enough that Gelsomina can send money back home to her family, though we never see her do this.

Gelsomina struggles with her role early on but eventually starts to take to the carny life. She learns pantomime and enjoys clowning around for the kids. Then she learns to play the trumpet and composes her own music, though Zampano is less than supportive of her effort. Despite their chemistry as performers, the often drunken Zampano is cruel and dismissive to the naive and simple Gelsomina and eventually she decides to run away. This lasts about a day before Zampano captures her again.

The two join a circus and much to Zampano’s displeasure, Gelsomina starts a friendship with a performer known as The Fool (Richard Baseheart). The Fool is a wire walker and a clown and his act has a place for Gelsomina and her talent for playing horns. As he plays a lovely tiny violin, Gelsomina sneaks up behind him and plays the slide trombone. This leads to a duet and a comical dance around the circus tent to much delight until Zampano shows up. The Fool can’t resist tormenting Zampano causing the much larger man to try and attack The Fool and ending up with a night in jail.

This provides a fork in the road for Gelsomina. She’s made friends with the Circus crew and as they are pulling out of town to escape the scandal of Zampano’s arrest, they invite Gelsomina to leave Zampano behind and join them on the road. What she chooses will define the remainder of her life and since I have already stated that La Strada is a romantic tragedy, you can likely guess which choice Gelsomina makes.

I am obsessed with Giulieta Masina. After having fallen in love with her resilience in Nights of Cabiria, I fell in love all over again with her spirit in La Strada. The way Masina bounces around as if searching for her next emotion, taking in whatever stimulus passes by is curious and endearing. She's capable of great sorrow one moment and delight in the next. All of it plays off her remarkably expressive face. Masina would have been a wonderful silent movie comedienne with her big expressive mouth, beaming smile and bright eyes. And it is with that remarkable face that she also communicates a wealth of anguish and sorrow over her unreturned love for Zampano.

Anthony Quinn is incredible in La Strada. The famed Italian star who would go on to make a great splash in America, brings an aching, boorish, sadness to Zampano. Masked by a massive ego and arrogance, Zampano’s deep dark secret is a self loathing he is at a loss to come to terms with. He dislikes himself on such a root level that the idea of being loved by someone is akin to believing the sky is green and the sea is made of wood. He’d sooner lose his mind completely than believe he was worthy of being loved.

That’s what leads to our ending, a tragedy that plays not in large dramatics on screen but rather, off-handedly off screen. Having abandoned Gelsomina on the road several years pass and Zampano, almost by accident, finds out what happened to Gelsomina. It’s a terribly sad fate and one that finally registers with the otherwise self-centered Zampano. The final scene is a powerhouse as Fellini’s camera slowly pulls back from Zampano weeping face down on a seaside beach as Nino Rota's score and Fellini's camera trigger the closing credits.

Next month, don’t miss the next Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation Restoration Screening. On Monday, July 11th, the presentation will be a fully restored print of the 1979 Indian film, Kummatty from director Arivindan Govindan. Go to Film-Foundation.org for more on their monthly classic movie Restoration Screening Room and all that The Film Foundation does to preserve film history.