The Roof (1956)
(Il tetto)
Country: IT/FR
Technical: bw 91m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Gabriella Pallotta, Giorgio Listuzzi, Gastone Renzelli
Synopsis:
A young couple get married, even though they have nowhere to live, and in the meantime share a cramped flat with the groom's extended family. When the call for autonomy grows too strong, and the girl soon falls pregnant, the need for a roof becomes so pressing that the groom must call on his builder friends to construct a simple dwelling overnight on peripheral land.
Review:
Once more De Sica and Zavattini build a simple drama around very real social poverty. With Rome, and other Italian cities, in full expansion there remained a critical shortage of affordable housing for the poor, some of whom were working precisely on those regenerative projects. The illegal erection of a one-room house, without a floor, or plumbing, but with a door and a roof, became the last resort of the desperate, since daily patrols issued fines and demanded the immediate demolition of unfinished constructions. De Sica's is then one of the earliest films to feature the kind of urban landscape that became the backdrop for films like Accatone, La Dolce Vita and L'Avventura, and recalls the milieu of Miracolo a Milano. The leading couple, though they may bicker, are unfailingly loyal and loving towards one another, indeed recalling the father and son in Ladri di biciclette. The same solidarity exists among the workers, even the unsympathetic brother-in-law and sympathetic policemen; only the spiv/informer character meets with universal contempt and opprobrium. Dramatically the focus is on the final section depicting the building of the home, but the fascination is in the details of economic hardship (prices, rents, etc.), stray children, a couple's entire possessions tied on a two-wheel cart. Electricity, transportation, running water, are some way off, so wine is drunk. No wonder De Sica was considered a national treasure: his dignifying and affectionate idealisation of the lower classes is unmistakable, and the Neo-realist packaging renders it all the more persuasive.
(Il tetto)
Country: IT/FR
Technical: bw 91m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Gabriella Pallotta, Giorgio Listuzzi, Gastone Renzelli
Synopsis:
A young couple get married, even though they have nowhere to live, and in the meantime share a cramped flat with the groom's extended family. When the call for autonomy grows too strong, and the girl soon falls pregnant, the need for a roof becomes so pressing that the groom must call on his builder friends to construct a simple dwelling overnight on peripheral land.
Review:
Once more De Sica and Zavattini build a simple drama around very real social poverty. With Rome, and other Italian cities, in full expansion there remained a critical shortage of affordable housing for the poor, some of whom were working precisely on those regenerative projects. The illegal erection of a one-room house, without a floor, or plumbing, but with a door and a roof, became the last resort of the desperate, since daily patrols issued fines and demanded the immediate demolition of unfinished constructions. De Sica's is then one of the earliest films to feature the kind of urban landscape that became the backdrop for films like Accatone, La Dolce Vita and L'Avventura, and recalls the milieu of Miracolo a Milano. The leading couple, though they may bicker, are unfailingly loyal and loving towards one another, indeed recalling the father and son in Ladri di biciclette. The same solidarity exists among the workers, even the unsympathetic brother-in-law and sympathetic policemen; only the spiv/informer character meets with universal contempt and opprobrium. Dramatically the focus is on the final section depicting the building of the home, but the fascination is in the details of economic hardship (prices, rents, etc.), stray children, a couple's entire possessions tied on a two-wheel cart. Electricity, transportation, running water, are some way off, so wine is drunk. No wonder De Sica was considered a national treasure: his dignifying and affectionate idealisation of the lower classes is unmistakable, and the Neo-realist packaging renders it all the more persuasive.
(Il tetto)
Country: IT/FR
Technical: bw 91m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Gabriella Pallotta, Giorgio Listuzzi, Gastone Renzelli
Synopsis:
A young couple get married, even though they have nowhere to live, and in the meantime share a cramped flat with the groom's extended family. When the call for autonomy grows too strong, and the girl soon falls pregnant, the need for a roof becomes so pressing that the groom must call on his builder friends to construct a simple dwelling overnight on peripheral land.
Review:
Once more De Sica and Zavattini build a simple drama around very real social poverty. With Rome, and other Italian cities, in full expansion there remained a critical shortage of affordable housing for the poor, some of whom were working precisely on those regenerative projects. The illegal erection of a one-room house, without a floor, or plumbing, but with a door and a roof, became the last resort of the desperate, since daily patrols issued fines and demanded the immediate demolition of unfinished constructions. De Sica's is then one of the earliest films to feature the kind of urban landscape that became the backdrop for films like Accatone, La Dolce Vita and L'Avventura, and recalls the milieu of Miracolo a Milano. The leading couple, though they may bicker, are unfailingly loyal and loving towards one another, indeed recalling the father and son in Ladri di biciclette. The same solidarity exists among the workers, even the unsympathetic brother-in-law and sympathetic policemen; only the spiv/informer character meets with universal contempt and opprobrium. Dramatically the focus is on the final section depicting the building of the home, but the fascination is in the details of economic hardship (prices, rents, etc.), stray children, a couple's entire possessions tied on a two-wheel cart. Electricity, transportation, running water, are some way off, so wine is drunk. No wonder De Sica was considered a national treasure: his dignifying and affectionate idealisation of the lower classes is unmistakable, and the Neo-realist packaging renders it all the more persuasive.