The fishermen in a small village in Sicily struggle to make a subsistence living partly due to the very small prices paid by the fish merchants in town who buy their goods. Antonio Arcidiacono decides to stop dealing with them and strike out on his own. They mortgage the family home and prepare to sell the fish they catch themselves, but a series of bad decisions and bad circumstances lead the family to ruin.
There are things I like very much about this film, and there's at least one thing I really don't. Visconti shoots the whole film in the village it's set with non-actors essentially just playing themselves, and it's a really vivid and vibrant portrait of life in this place and time. There's a lot of wonderful detail that doesn't really have to do with the main story, and I really love this part of the film.
There's also a narration that sort of imposes an interpretation of what we're seeing and I neither like the fact that it's doing that nor do I think a lot of it is really supported by the content of the film. Sometimes it doesn't bother me much, but often it feels like it's taking a rich and complex portrait and cramming it into very simple mold.
There are things I like very much about this film, and there's at least one thing I really don't. Visconti shoots the whole film in the village it's set with non-actors essentially just playing themselves, and it's a really vivid and vibrant portrait of life in this place and time. There's a lot of wonderful detail that doesn't really have to do with the main story, and I really love this part of the film.
There's also a narration that sort of imposes an interpretation of what we're seeing and I neither like the fact that it's doing that nor do I think a lot of it is really supported by the content of the film. Sometimes it doesn't bother me much, but often it feels like it's taking a rich and complex portrait and cramming it into very simple mold.