It is not the most realistic of Italian neorealist films, but there's a lot to like about it. Moravia's portrayal of the Italian periphery during WWII is interesting. The focus is on the protagonists - internal refugees from the city - and the peasantry, struggling to survive between the rock and the hard place of the warring German and American armies, both callous if not evil. In some parts, especially toward the end, the drama is a bit too concentrated, but the excellent acting helps.

i was fairly bored until about half way through, but at that point it turned into a pretty good movie. ends up being smack dab in the middle.

Sophia Loren is absolutley spectacular.

The story unfolds rather haphazardly and the attack sequences feel really dated, but there's still a lot to like, even if a lot of it is melodrama. It showcases some beautiful Italian landscape along with a fantastic performance by Sophia Loren. She really shows her true talent as an actress here.

Very dated, averagish war drama. Pass it if you are after the cast's better work.

So-so drama of a woman and her 12 year-old daughter in wartime Italy. Sophia Loren and Jean-Paul Belmondo are good, if slightly on the hammy side. The narrative is a bit loose, but the anecdotes were interesting enough. I was actually quite into it until near the end, where this racism comes out of nowhere. One could argue that it's not racist (or at least not intentionally so) but I didn't care for it at all. Still, I guess it's worth a watch, but not on the godawful Madacy DVD.

Pretty good, but overly dramatic, and the sexism the film criticizes is ironically overshadowed by its apparent racism towards the end.

The movie isn't as good as its classic status would indicate ... Jean-Paul Belmondo as an Italian intellectual rebel doesn't quite work, and Loren's Oscar was a typical "hot babe shows she can act, what a surprise" nod more than anything else.