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I’ve read theories that this central triangle is supposed to represent the three sides of the human condition - with Il Matto the mind, Zampanò the body and Gelsomina the spirit - but I also think that a reason for the lingering power of “La Strada” is that it isn’t quite so easy to pin down. He nurtures Gelsomina’s gifts as a natural-born clown but can’t help himself from taunting and tormenting Zampanò, with ultimately tragic results. Upon joining up with a larger circus their dysfunctional dynamic is disrupted by Il Matto, “The Fool” (Richard Baseheart), a tightrope walker and inveterate wise guy. As played by the ethereal, childlike Masina, she’s an almost supernatural embodiment of God’s grace, but what some men fear most is being loved.
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The fumbling, inarticulate Zampanò cruelly beats and brutalizes Gelsomina, to which she responds with forgiveness and unconditional adoration. They journey together through a bombed-out countryside ravaged by war, performing for poverty-stricken locals. The storyline is simplicity itself, with the slightly addled peasant girl Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina, the director’s wife) sold by her widowed mother to traveling carnival strongman Zampanò, played so unforgettably by Anthony Quinn. Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina in "La Strada." (Courtesy Janus Films) Besides, a good cry can be cathartic when you’re already a nervous wreck. One of the greatest of all films, this haunting, heartfelt fable feels like a balm during these troubled times, its essential, insistent humanity arriving as a reminder right when we need it most.
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(The news will still be here when we get back.) The Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Virtual Screening Room has just started streaming a new 4K restoration of Federico Fellini’s 1954 masterpiece “ La Strada” in celebration of the maestro’s centenary. So come away with me instead to a small seaside village in postwar Italy. But of course, thanks to the coronavirus, it’s not like we can go anywhere or do much else right now besides stay at home and doomscroll through our social media feeds while waiting for the other shoe to drop. And you shouldn’t, this is no way to live your life.
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It’s debilitating, really, if you sit around thinking about it for too long. Even the most consequential and contentious elections of my lifetime promised with them peaceful transitions of power, whereas this week offers no such guarantees. After spending the weekend with knots in my stomach watching throngs of sneering Trump supporters blocking highways and closing down bridges, I realized that not since the days immediately following 9/11 have I felt plagued by more terrifying uncertainty regarding what comes next. None of us are having an easy time of it right now. A still from Federico Fellini's "La Strada." (Courtesy Janus Films) This article is more than 1 year old.