Director Pierto Germi is not as well known as an associate of his, Federico Fellini, but he did make some fine films in the 50's and 60's, notably Divorce, Italian Style, Seduced and Abandoned, and this one, The Railroad Man. It is a story of Andrea Marcocci (played by the director who is also a fine actor), a railroad man who is head of a dysfunctional family. He avoids going directly home after a couple day's work driving the train. His eldest son is a no good, living at home unemplyed slacker who gambles. His daughter is knocked up by a man who works at a store, gives birth to a stillborn, and has to suffer a loveless marriage to him. The youngest son is still a child, who is having lousy grades in school. Marcocci is involved in a train accident; a man decides to throw himself in front of the train. He takes up drinking. The elder children are kicked out of the house, and the railroad workers have a strike, which he has to break because he needs the money. His daughter has an affair. He loses his friends and his job, due to drinking. In the end though, they all eventually come back to gether one final time during the Christmas holidays, in reconciliation. Melodramatic? Yes, but it is well told and the acting is superb. You get the sense to of life in an Italian city in post war Italy; there are still large swaths of empty and cleared fields where the children play, and huge urban housing projects are being built. The family is symbolic of the problems that people faced in the 50's, and for this Pietro Germi was criticized. The story is dramatic without being syrupy. Good photography; I liked the opening sequences with the young boy running to the station, cut with shots of the arriving train. NoShame is a company that specializes in Italian movies; their reissues have been excellent in picture and sound quality, with copious notes. After a busy couple of years, they seem to have slowed down a lot in reissuing dvds. Hopefully there will be more to come. The Railroad Man is well worth watching.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Italian Neo Realism - The Railroad Man
Director Pierto Germi is not as well known as an associate of his, Federico Fellini, but he did make some fine films in the 50's and 60's, notably Divorce, Italian Style, Seduced and Abandoned, and this one, The Railroad Man. It is a story of Andrea Marcocci (played by the director who is also a fine actor), a railroad man who is head of a dysfunctional family. He avoids going directly home after a couple day's work driving the train. His eldest son is a no good, living at home unemplyed slacker who gambles. His daughter is knocked up by a man who works at a store, gives birth to a stillborn, and has to suffer a loveless marriage to him. The youngest son is still a child, who is having lousy grades in school. Marcocci is involved in a train accident; a man decides to throw himself in front of the train. He takes up drinking. The elder children are kicked out of the house, and the railroad workers have a strike, which he has to break because he needs the money. His daughter has an affair. He loses his friends and his job, due to drinking. In the end though, they all eventually come back to gether one final time during the Christmas holidays, in reconciliation. Melodramatic? Yes, but it is well told and the acting is superb. You get the sense to of life in an Italian city in post war Italy; there are still large swaths of empty and cleared fields where the children play, and huge urban housing projects are being built. The family is symbolic of the problems that people faced in the 50's, and for this Pietro Germi was criticized. The story is dramatic without being syrupy. Good photography; I liked the opening sequences with the young boy running to the station, cut with shots of the arriving train. NoShame is a company that specializes in Italian movies; their reissues have been excellent in picture and sound quality, with copious notes. After a busy couple of years, they seem to have slowed down a lot in reissuing dvds. Hopefully there will be more to come. The Railroad Man is well worth watching.
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