AKA: Nights of Cabiria.
Director: Federico Fellini.
Year: 1957.
Rating: * * * *
My first experience with a Fellini masterpiece was nothing short of a serene walkthrough, amidst the human failings and the double-edged sword called hope.
It’s one of those movies where the progress of the plot is made at the lead character’s expense; and it’s a tough ask. But if you have a maestro of Fellini’s proportions and a sea of unprecedented talent in Giulietta Masina, the movie just can’t be any less than a true gem.
Cabiria (Giulietta Masina) is a hooker, working her nights out in the streets of Rome, with a cohort of similar-themed professionals. Banking on the promiscuity and temptation of men, Cabiria has hoarded enough to have a place to call home, and her own back to fall on. However, one aspect she differs from the rest of the motley, is that Cabiria wants more from her life; true love to be precise. She has started to feel the weight of loneliness on her shoulders, and she pines and weeps to have just one fine gentleman who can give her the love she never got. Unfortunately, her wishes were fulfilled, but only to be thrashed back vehemently to the reality: She’s a prostitute and men are just looking to use her.
Despite the aching letdowns, her eyes never stop glinting at the site of a probable lover. The movie is a string of a couple of such encounters, where Cabiria makes the mistake of seeing a glimmer of hope in the next man/customer she runs into. First in line is a filthy-rich celebrity Alberto Lazzari (Amedeo Nazzari), whom Cabiria, apparently, admires. She can’t believe her luck when he solicits her after having dumped his jealous, money-grubbing girlfriend. After a couple of hours of pure uptown and royal experience, reality comes knocking on Cabiria’s door, dragging her back to her old ways. She even tries to find answers and redemption in spirituality, imploring Madonna to rid her of all her ailments, but all in vain. Her search for true love always turns up empty, until she meets a certain Oscar (François Perier), whom she gradually develops a liking to. She believes he’s the one, and does everything in her power to not let the opportunity and the love, slip away. The climax, as some might have guessed by now, comes from the relationship of these two people. For an avid viewer, it might be a little predictable, but that doesn’t stop a lump from rising in your throat during those final moments of the movie.
With an adorably simple plot, the movie is more of a character-driven exercise; and I agree I don’t know much about Italian actors of that era, but I doubt if anyone other than Giulietta could’ve pulled it off as brilliantly as she has. Complementing the character tone, Giulietta’s a ball of fire, a live dynamite, about to go off at any moment. At the sight of pure joy, she just can’t contain herself. She’s a feisty, little woman, with ample of self-respect, even in the face of her derided profession. But when it comes to love, she’s just another bubbling, gullible lady, who hasn’t had the good charm of experiencing that emotion. The fortress she carries on with throughout her days, seem to wear out when faced with love or something like it. With such a concoction infused in just one role, Giulietta works her way through, beaming with insurmountable confidence and a child-like, pure innocence.
If Giulietta is the puppet, hitting all the right notes, then Fellini is the genius puppeteer pulling all the right strings to make his puppet dance to his tunes. Interjecting despondent humor in those bright moments, he alludes to the hopelessness of hope itself for Cabiria, and all that goes awry with her. Grounding his film in reality, yet giving it an air of a fairy tale, he juxtaposes the two aspects, but tipping mostly in the favor of stark truth.
If I were to go ahead and pick one favorite scene, I’d choose the scene at vaudeville. Cabiria is put under a trance by a magician, and all her innermost desires brim to the surface. The sweet pain of an unfulfilled life, yet have the strength to continue to chase happiness, is evident, and underscored so strongly by the leading lady’s ethereal performance and charm. A bittersweet scene, it pulled at all of my heartstrings, compelling me to give in to that one weak moment.
If I were to say that the movie is highly recommended, it’ll be an insult to the movie itself. One would truly be fortunate to watch this movie, and realize how filmmaking could be so simple and yet pack in such earth-shattering experiences. There never is a dry moment in the movie, and even the most cynical fellow (which, apparently, I am) can’t help drop the mask and grow a little hope for love.
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