Italian Neo-Realism: I Vitelloni by Federico Fellini
With I Vitelloni (1953), the great master filmmaker Federico Fellini really tells the story of our lives. The film is set in a small Italian coastal town of
The film follows each character over a length of several seasons and documents the obstacles they encounter in their own lives and how they are affected by them. This story really is a collection of five short stories that are seamlessly attached and the edges blur out into each other’s territories to form a radical single entity of an image. The title literally translates to “Big Calves”, a rather tough reference to the five principal characters of the film who despite being fully grown men, refuse to act their age and spend their time hanging out and drinking in the pubs. In a typical depiction of the level of their irresponsibility, all five men still reside with their parents and three of them are still dependant on their finances.
The film begins in a beauty pageant show which is mercilessly taken apart by a strong storm forcing everyone to pack themselves into an indoor hall. The winner of the evening is the beautiful Sandra Rubini (sister to our hero Moraldo Rubini) and she is the center of everyone’s attention until she faints. The doctor attends to her and declares to her mother that Sandra is pregnant. It is later revealed that the father of Sandra’s child is Fausto, her brother’s best-friend and the town’s notorious skirt-chaser. He rushes home (to his parent’s home) to pack his belongings in an attempt to flee town and the wrath of Sandra’s family but he is stopped by his father (with the help of a few convincing slaps to the face). It is eventually decided that Fausto is to marry Sandra and become the legitimate father to her child. Moraldo, stuck in the middle is only happy to have this solution to the problem. Sandra and Fausto marry and leave town on a long honey moon (to the
Somewhere among their laziness and their lack of responsibilities, all the characters have their dreams and their aspirations but somehow they are unable to break out of their town and their circle of friends and familiar faces. This is what drives our hero Moraldo to ponder on the thought of leaving town and starting over somewhere new several times throughout the film only to put it away to a later time when he thinks he would be ready. Moraldo walks around the town late at night after he had seen all his friends back home safe, walks around almost as if he’s wondering what it is that keeps him put in this town and perhaps also what it is that will make him break away and go towards a new beginning. He meets a young boy named Guido on his way to work at the railway station (at
The film then goes around the characters as each one of them starts to deal with their own shortcomings. Fausto returns back home with his new wife and still staying with his parents, he gets himself into a job where he is unable to work. He eventually resorts to his old ways and starts chasing women once again. Alberto is dealing with issues with his single mother and his sister who is in love with a questionable man. Moraldo is aware of Fausto’s extra-marital affairs and is left half-paralyzed between telling the truth to his sister and keeping quiet for the sake of his best friend.
The most important part of the film comes in the form of the town masquerade party. Everybody in town is there dressed up in a wide range of costumes and this crucial segment of the film is the point where the lives of all the major characters change. Fausto bumps into his employer’s wife (who is several years elder to himself) and makes a pass at her which later results in him losing his job. Alberto, after a night of heavy drinking is taken back home by Moraldo only to watch his sister leave him and his mother for her lover. Moraldo, on the other hand finally manages to find the motivation he was looking for to transcend the boundaries of his town. It is only apt that the only person who bids farewell to Moraldo is his young friend Guido.
Federico Fellini
This was only Fellini’s third feature film and the first major success after the disastrous result of his previous effort The White Sheik (1952). Fellini himself has admitted that in many ways this film is an autobiographical look at his own life and his hometown. All the principal characters of the film where modeled after the people that Fellini observed as a young boy and perhaps this is why the film succeeds brilliantly in providing us a mirror for our own nostalgia. I would go as far as saying that Fellini’s own sense of nostalgia clearly pours out of the film and into the viewer’ own mind and establishes a rare connection. We all were in a group of similar-minded friends at one time or the other. We’ve all be accused to being irresponsible to the society and we’ve all been told to act our age and these little moments find their way back into our thoughts when we watch this great film.
Fellini made this film bang in the middle of the Italian Neo-realism movement. The usage of real locations, the dealing of the subject of the working-class, the unusual usage of camerawork and several other factors to the film qualifies this as a valid film of the Neo-realism movement but the film comes on its own as a work of art. But most importantly it laid the foundations for Fellini to establish himself as a master filmmaker; indeed his next effort is to be the brilliantly made La Strada (1954).
But I will forever remember I Vitelloni as a beautiful tale of five friends who just couldn’t grow up. It’s simplicity and its compassion towards the characters of the story is both unforgettable and something that you wish this world had more of. And as the train chugs away from the station and Moraldo waves back to Guido, we part with him, breaking our own restricting barriers in a metaphorical way for Fellini has taught us a valuable lesson.
