I'm finding Federico Fellini, much like Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, to be something of an acquired taste. That's a politically correct way of saying that I don't care very much for their pictures. Maybe it has something to do with the era in which they worked. Both their styles seem to be drawn out and methodical in a way that doesn't engage this viewer. Personal taste I guess.I recently watched "The Nights of Cabiria", another Fellini film with his wife, Giulietta Masina in the lead role. I had to wonder about the way her character Gelsomina was written for this story. There seemed to be particular emphasis placed on the idea that she was ugly, or at least as fashionable as an artichoke, both descriptions offered by The Fool (Richard Basehart). Additionally, I couldn't tell at first if she was mentally challenged, because she did little to engage in a meaningful way with other characters. But later on, she seemed to be an intelligent person but with hurt feelings, and you could sense the dichotomy in her personality. Adding to the illusion, she was made up to look like Harpo Marx, with hints of Chaplin's Little Tramp in the way she conducted herself.For this viewer, this was Anthony Quinn's best role, though I haven't seen "Zorba the Greek" yet. I thought he did a good job with a complex character, even though his outward persona was pretty much a brute. I actually had to laugh a bit regarding his strongman gimmick. If you took notice, the chain he used for his act was secured with a rather tenuous link that didn't look like it would be too tough to separate. It wasn't as if, as Zampano claimed, that he was using his muscular chest to break an iron chain.I think this picture would have had more resonance for me in a modern day setting, and if the characters were a little better developed. I didn't really identify with the players in any meaningful way and the randomness of the situations seemed contrived in a way. I might do better with a second viewing, but with so many movies and so little time, it's going to take a while.

It's ridiculously late at night right now and I just finished watching Fellini's masterful classic "La Strada" for the very first (and, by the looks of it, certainly not last) time. I was planning on sleeping right after the film ended and publishing an IMDb review tomorrow, but the film had such a profound effect on me that I feel the need to review it now, and share my experience will all of you.Although it is a tragedy, "La Strada" still carries classic Fellini whimsy, magic, and humor. It also expresses his talent for storytelling, character, and ability to amuse and entertain while also being intelligent and meaningful. This is a carnivalesque dance of the human soul, exposing both the positives and negatives of life itself. The characters are some of the finest and most memorable I have ever seen in the film. There is the childlike and lovable heroine Gelsomina, the menacing, abusive, and yet surprisingly sympathetic villain Zampano, and the hilarious and inspiring Fool. These memorable personalities clash in a practically perfect film that combines neorealism with surrealism and tragedy with comedy. A true masterpiece if I've ever seen one.

With such simplicity one might wonder how Fellini pulled it off so marvelously. I saw this film after watching his masterpiece 8 1/2.. This one did not carry those complex scenes that need lots of interpretations, yet it had much depth in it and left a great deal of impact on me. Perhaps it was intended to have this simple plot because love that is the subject of this movie is simple and that is why it is so powerful.Zampano is the unmindful cruel man that cares for nothing but his pleasures.. he is a simple showman that travels from place to place to perform his acts. He starts taking Gelsomina, who is a poor simple minded young woman, with him in his rides after her mother sold her to him. Gelsomina is his contradiction.. an innocent pure soul that cares for others.. that wants to love and be loved.. that wants to give meaning to her life.She was miserable.. struggling with her new life when she learned from another showman, a character which seemed shallow from the outside and truly was deep from the inside, that everything was there for a reason and a purpose. Zampano, and so she thought, was the purpose of her being in life, and love was there.. but was it enough to change him..After a while she seemed crazier.. or maybe the insanity of people's acts were reflecting on her as she was purer and clearer than a mirror. She had a purpose and fought for it and there in every detail of this great film you will reflect on the simplicity and greatness of love.

This could be considered Fellini's first masterpiece.but His previous work was, of course, excellent, but with "La Strada", he proved he had an amazing understanding of the characters he presents to us. It is almost as though, he had known these people all his life and just decided to incorporate them in a movie. This is a film that showed an Italy that had suffered a defeat during WWII. Italy was struggling to heal itself from the horrible times it had lived during the conflict and what the director and his collaborators show us is an impoverished country trying to cope with the new reality. La Strada" is a film about the suffering and hard times the citizens had gone through, but also shows hope in an uncertain future.