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NIGHTS OF CABIRIA Send This Review to a Friend
A restored 1957 masterpiece, Federico Fellini's NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, offers an electrifying experience that underscores how lacking in depth most movies are today. This great film, with a towering, unique performance by the late Giulietta Masina, outshines every new film released as of mid-1998.
"Nights of Cabiria" won an Oscar as the best foreign film of 1957 and Masina was named best actress at that year's Cannes Film Festival. Now pristine prints have been struck from a restored negative, with newly translated laser subtitles, improved sound and additional footage that previously had been cut by Italian censors. The restoration was initiated by Rialto pictures and carried through by the Studiocine lab of Rome and Canal Plus International of Paris.
Masina's portrayal of an Italian prostitute who searches for happiness and a new life but is forever being abused by men who take advantage of her good-nature and naive optimism stands as one of the great screen acting achievements. (Masina, who was married to Fellini, died in 1994, five months after the death of Fellini in 1993). The film is an exquisite evocation of the human condition, blending poignant drama, touches of humor, the impressive music of Nino Rota, a compelling screenplay that Fellini co-wrote with his long-time collaborators Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli, additional dialogue by Pier Paolo Pasolini and sensitive, masterly direction by Fellini in top form.
Many know Masina mainly for her classic work in "La Strada," and perhaps for "Juliet of the Spirits" and "Ginger and Fred." As Cabiria she triumphs in a role of a caliber that few actresses have the fortune to find. Wide-eyed and nuanced, whether with telling body language or passionate dialogue, Masina can make you smile one moment and break your heart the next. It is rare these days to find a film so deeply moving. This fresh look is enough to send buffs in search of more neglected screen treasures and validate the cliché that they don't make movies like this any more. They certainly don't.
There is something of a mystery as to why six minutes were censored when the film was originally released. The sequence involves a good Samaritan carrying a sack from which he dispenses aid to the poor living in caves, including one downtrodden woman who is important as a harbinger of the fate that may be in store for Cabiria. Fellini believed that the Roman Catholic Church wanted the sequence cut because it implied that the church was not doing its job of caring for the poor. In any event, that portion is back now. The restorers of this film deserve our gratitude. Not only can those who fondly remember the film see it again, but a whole new generation has an opportunity to savor this extraordinary work Note: The slick, enjoyable Broadway musical "Sweet Charity" and the glitzy, entertaining film that followed were based on "Nights of Cabiria" but this is the real thing. A Rialto Pictures release.
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