Great looking picture, and there's some good performances (and not so good) from the cast of amateurs. But there's no real surprises in what we're seeing; we know these people are going to be ground down, and they are.

458

#483

After debuting with the delicious crime-drama Ossessione, the aristocracy-born Visconti directs a truly hardcore neorealist work about the struggles of poor Sicilian fishers. Unlike some in Italian neorealism, Visconti doesn't settle for the mandatory devices (non-actors, location filming) and themes, but achieves a strong narrative as well. An extraordinary film crippled by emotionally distancing documentary-like narration.

# 468

Perhaps the most remarkably neo-realist film I've viewed, the near documentary approach I found relentlessly detached. This is no doubt intentional, sure, but there was so little to engage me over the running time. Grueling, no doubt like the lives of those depicted, but not the most successful narrative feature.

The photography is very impressive and the story held my interest. But there are some problems. The most prominent is the use of voice-over narration, which is scattered liberally throughout the film and adds absolutely nothing. I also didn't buy into Visconti's socialist message. Yes, the deck is stacked against 'Ntoni and his family, but he could have made it if he hadn't made a bone-headed mistake. And the movie has a frustrating way of dropping plot threads when they're no longer useful.

409

I hope you will all pardon me if I'm not a big fan of Communist agitprop. Very long, very dull movie. I saw this picture at a Visconti retrospective, see, and, a couple nights before, _The Leopard_ received a standing ovation at the end. At the end of *this* movie, there was no applause, and the audience in the lobby had the same look on their faces that my cat did when she would have her temperature taken rectally at the vet