Renowned filmmaker Vittorio De Sica followed up his international triumph Bicycle Thieves with this enchantingly playful neorealist fairy tale, in which he combines his celebrated slice-of-life poetry with flights of graceful comedy and storybook fantasy. On the outskirts of Milan, a band of vagabonds work together to form a shantytown. When it is discovered that the land they occupy contains oil, however, it’s up to the cherubic orphan Totò (Francesco Golisano)—with some divine help—to save their community from greedy developers. Tipping their hats to the imaginative whimsy of Charles Chaplin and René Clair, De Sica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, adapting his own novel, craft a big-hearted ode to the nobility of everyday people.
“This beautiful presentation of Vittorio De Sicas fantastical portrait of poverty and human fortitude helps make the argument that the film is more than just a curio in neorealist history.”
-Slant Magazine
“Outrageous sentimentality undercut by outrageous cheek.”
-Time Out
“This satire on the cravings of rich and poor alike is also a cry of despair; De Sica’s celestial visions suggest that nothing short of a miracle will save those in need.”
-The New Yorker
