In spite of all the praise I have read about this, I can't see it as a masterpiece. However, the story of a lonely, indigent, pensioner and his struggle to retain his dignity is admirable in many ways. It is hard to imagine that a contemporary movie would have the fortitude to address this issue in such a forthright and non-sentimental way, in spite of the fact that dealing with an aging population is an ever-increasing concern.
We are made to feel Umberto's humiliations and indignities in the face of an uncaring society. Nobody wants to deal with his situation. His landlady, who had become accustomed to renting his room for afternoon trysts when he was working, has decided that it would be in her best interests to evict him. Umberto's acquaintances from the past seem to be superficially genial, but are always too busy to relate to him as a person. Umberto does establish some contact with the young maid Maria, but she has her own problems - she is three months pregnant and the paternity of the baby is in question.
One of the most impressive scenes has Umberto packing and leaving his apartment before suffering the insult of being evicted. As he descends the stairway, on his way out, for one brief moment his landlady understands his plight, but not enough to reverse her stance.
In the end Umberto has only his faithful dog Flike to turn to. Indeed Flike is more honorable than most of the humans Umberto encounters and the love between the man and the animal is touching, but not played with undue sentiment.
There are minor annoyances. I could never figure out what the weather was. In the street scenes you had some people wearing suits and heavy overcoats while others were in T-shirts. Umberto, wearing heavy clothes, would close the windows on a sunny day, but Maria would open them in order to wave to her boyfriend. And the deal with Maria's burning the newspapers to ward off the ants was disconcerting - she would have been burned. And was the housekeeping so abysmal that there was no concern about ashes being scattered on the floors? Such scenes compromised the realism for me. Was the mood in Italy after the war so cynical that everyone would treat a decent older man as a cypher? It would have been good to know just how Umberto wound up in his situation. Partway through the movie someone asks "Will there be war?" What was the meaning of that? I thought the time frame was post World War II.
I watched this on the Criterion Collection DVD and can report that the film quality is pristine.
Umberto's situation is the nightmare we all fear as we age and, if presented, one can only hope to face that situation with Umberto's quiet dignity and acceptance. He looked into the abyss and drew back.
We are made to feel Umberto's humiliations and indignities in the face of an uncaring society. Nobody wants to deal with his situation. His landlady, who had become accustomed to renting his room for afternoon trysts when he was working, has decided that it would be in her best interests to evict him. Umberto's acquaintances from the past seem to be superficially genial, but are always too busy to relate to him as a person. Umberto does establish some contact with the young maid Maria, but she has her own problems - she is three months pregnant and the paternity of the baby is in question.
One of the most impressive scenes has Umberto packing and leaving his apartment before suffering the insult of being evicted. As he descends the stairway, on his way out, for one brief moment his landlady understands his plight, but not enough to reverse her stance.
In the end Umberto has only his faithful dog Flike to turn to. Indeed Flike is more honorable than most of the humans Umberto encounters and the love between the man and the animal is touching, but not played with undue sentiment.
There are minor annoyances. I could never figure out what the weather was. In the street scenes you had some people wearing suits and heavy overcoats while others were in T-shirts. Umberto, wearing heavy clothes, would close the windows on a sunny day, but Maria would open them in order to wave to her boyfriend. And the deal with Maria's burning the newspapers to ward off the ants was disconcerting - she would have been burned. And was the housekeeping so abysmal that there was no concern about ashes being scattered on the floors? Such scenes compromised the realism for me. Was the mood in Italy after the war so cynical that everyone would treat a decent older man as a cypher? It would have been good to know just how Umberto wound up in his situation. Partway through the movie someone asks "Will there be war?" What was the meaning of that? I thought the time frame was post World War II.
I watched this on the Criterion Collection DVD and can report that the film quality is pristine.
Umberto's situation is the nightmare we all fear as we age and, if presented, one can only hope to face that situation with Umberto's quiet dignity and acceptance. He looked into the abyss and drew back.