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La Terra Trema Directed by Luchino Visconti Review by Gary W. Tooze |
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| Luchino Visconti directed "La Terra Trema", released in 1948. It is about a fishing village family and their decent into despair and poverty while being forgotten and shunned by their fisherman peers and neighbors. Very similar in theme to his later film "Rocco and His Brothers", the major characters slowly lose their cohesive familial glue. Visconti focuses his subject matter in an almost documentary style about the life of "men of the sea" in a small town in Sicily. The performances are neo-realistic with unprofessional actors playing characters, many taken from the fishing village of Trezza, where it was filmed. | |||
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| We are given the sense of the unjust life of the fisherman by a narrator (Visconti himself, at times) who fills in plot gaps occasionally during the film. We are told and see how they toil for meager rewards and seem trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, held down by the consortium of seafood wholesalers that purchase the fruits of their labors. We become aware of the dangers of their occupation and the excessively long hours these fisherman put in. No question, it is a hard life. | |||
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| One brother from the Valastro family has had enough of the struggle and attempts to combat the wholesalers by mortgaging the family home and starting their own business of both catching and selling the fish. Love interests are seen as a new future floating on the horizon for both the brothers and the sisters of the family, but their happiness seems inexorably linked to their success in the new enterprise. Tragedy is looming and with every attempt to move ahead the Valastro family are kept down, combated by fate, lack of assistance by their fellow fisherman, neighbors and their nefarious business associates. | |||
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The
acting is real and the non-flamboyant performances very solid. Visconti
uses virtually no close-ups and the pace of the film is very even. It
was 2 1/2 hours but never felt like it at all as settling the viewer
into the storyline seems to be one of the directors major attributes.
Perhaps unnecessarily sad, a small glimmer of a future for what remains
of the Valastro's in Trezza is dangled in front of our eyes at the end
of the film. It was thoroughly enjoyable viewing experience but for
those looking for something uplifting, this is not for you. The
neo-realism and time period remind me very much of De Sica's "The
Bicycle Thief", but although morose, its multiple characters never
reach that same level of melancholy. I still give it  out
of  . |
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FILM and DVD Details |
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Click to enlarge |
Click to enlarge |
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The
Image Entertainment DVD is from an un-restored print and although it has
moments where this is very apparent, mostly the image is quite
acceptable. There are even brief times where sharpness is exhibited, but
nothing beyond what would be expected for a film of this age. Small
speckles and scratches are prevalent throughout. There is the ability to
turn off the English subtitles for people who understand Italian. The
DVD has no extras. As with "Rocco and his Brothers" I do
remember adjusting the volume up, but only in one specific occasion (at
around 110 minutes). The DVD menu has 22 chapters. I rate it out
of .
A restored print (not in existence), commentary , trailers or documentary would have
obviously increased this rating. |
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| Complete credited cast:
Terra trema: Episodio del mare, La (1948) |
Technical
Information
Release Information: Edition Details:
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