Umberto D. (1952)

Dear / Rizzoli / De Sica / Amato
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Starring: Carlo Battisti, Maria-Pia Casilio

Honors:
Best Foreign Film- New York Film Circle (1955)

A leading figure and torchbearer of Italian cinema’s neorealism movement, director Vittorio De Sica delivers yet another thoughtful, complex, yet very simple picture with his 1952 feature Umberto D. Like other films about the troubles of aged individuals, such as 1937’s Make Way for Tomorrow, this film manifests the often panned over distress of those finding themselves aged out of social order. However, with the aid of the neorealism style this film’s story is made more tangible for the post-war movie audience. With non-professional actors, a handsomely shot setting of a quieter and dirtier corners of Rome, a massive heart, and a wonderful supporting canine performance, this picture became a favorite of its creator and heralded as one of the great Italian pictures, despite its initial blowback.

 

Umberto D. is an Italian neorealism drama about a senior citizen coping with his status in his advanced age. Struggling with rent and his bills with only a paltry pension, retired government worker Umberto (Carlo Battisti) efforts to just scrap up enough cash to keep his head above water. With a social climbing landlady (Lina Gennari) hoping to evict him and immediate plans to renovate his room into a larger entertaining space, Umberto finds his only thread of human compassion from the poor, young housemaid Maria (Maria-Pia Casilio) and his only treasured companionship in his cherish dog, Flike. When selling what meager possessions he has proven futile in stopping the inevitable, the old man loses faith in trying and contemplates his own demise. Bidding farewell and attempting to deliver wizened advice for Maria, Umberto heartbreakingly attempts to find a new home for his dog as he expects to struggle and die penniless. With his inability to do so he finally accepts to make the most out his time with his best friend as the movie closes with the two friends playing.

 

A film that takes a look at society and its relationship with the elderly, the feature appears to be one of gloom and melancholy as it follows it titular character through a series of shortcomings that are stacked against him. A slow and at times meandering picture, it has a ton of heart in an age when society typically discarded its aged for lack of usefulness. With very few characters, the performances of Battisti and Casilio carry the story of compassion towards two people that are easily glanced over in their own worlds while experiencing deep lives within. The simple filmmaking of De Sica allows more for the screenplay and acting to shine in a picture that is rather brief, just under 90 minutes, but leaves you feeling having lived a lifetime, but wanting to see more.

 

Filmed on the streets of Rome and containing non-professional stars, De Sica’s film comes away with the genuine raw neorealism style he had championed for nearly a decade. Acting talent for Umberto were provided by Carlo Battisti, a professor of linguistics in Florence, providing an unpolishes, yet uniquely honest and heartbreaking performance in an understated manner. Nearly carrying the entire picture on shoulders of his performance, you would swear he was a classically trained player from the stage, and to make such a casting decision was a mark of genius.

 

Accompanying him is another newcomer in Maria-Pia Casilio as the young housemaid that shares a similar poor, loner lifestyle as Umberto. The two find compassion in each other, Umberto the aged, downtrodden outcast aged out of society, while Maria the youth rejected and afraid it will only get worse as a single and newly pregnant teen, a life seen nearly over before it even began. Maria bebodies a mirror and juxtaposition to our advanced leading character, merely trying to find something to support herself while Umberto tries to share some wisdom with her. Casilio did not seek out acting as she purely supported a friend who was auditioning for a role in the film when De Sica spotted the 16 year-old and found her manner to be the perfect fit for the maid in his story. The performance was the breakout moment of her life, turning the opportunity into a career before moving into semi-retirement following her marriage.

 

Like many neorealism films developed in the post war era Umberto D. was disliked by many in Italy, mostly the government, and harsh critics looked upon this film as a critique of how the nation was failing to get back on its feet after the devastating conflict. A catholic and a socialist, De Sica saw the picture as a tale of how society sometimes turns its back on people in need, and those that wanted to glorify Italy disliked the negative tone of society’s shortcomings. The Italian minister of cinema would write a letter to De Sica about his disappointment in how it represented their country, but that would not stop the success of the picture would have.

 

Through the years many have come to enjoy and praise Umberto D. as a one of the finest pieces of cinema of not only Italy, but of all time. When the film finally made its way to the United States in 1955 many American critics praise the picture, including the NY Critics Film Circle honoring it with their top foreign film award. In the years since numerous filmmakers and critics would name it to various lists of all-time features, films to study, or movies you need to see before you die. The legacy of the picture continues to be seen today, more recently in the form of the 2008 French remake entitled A Man and His Dog.

 

Umberto D. is a quite treasure of cinema, Italian filmmaking, and an example of neorealism. The creativity, performances, and its story remain stirring and enjoyable all these years later. Lacking extravagance, this picture reminds one of how the film is an extension of performance and the theater, a way to express and share stories that are moving and poignant, creating moments that one will remember for years to come.