One of the earliest examples of how the Italian neorealist cinema of the 1940s succumbed to the dictates of Hollywood star glamor, BITTER RICE is nevertheless a good, moody film which captures the bare survival atmosphere of Italy after WWII, when the country lay in ruins and everyone
scraped for a living.
In this case it's the buxom, somewhat glamorized Mangano, who parades about in a bursting sweater, short-shorts and artfully torn nylons as she works with hundreds of other women in the rice fields of the Po Valley. (Notably, Mangano's presence in this film, shaped by future husband De Laurentiis,
prefigures the arrival of the so-called Italian "sexpot" actresses of the 1950s, whose ranks included Gina Lollbrigida and Sophia Loren).
The story, less involved with the effects of the war and poverty than earlier neorealist efforts, concerns the young woman and her involvement with two men, one down-to-earth, respectable but weak (Vallone), the other brutal, criminal yet magnetic (Gassman). The acting is fine and De Santis's
direction shows great compositional skill with both camera and figure movement. Hardly a compelling critique of worker exploitation, BITTER RICE is still potent in its sensual, naturalistic depiction of love on straw bunks and sex offered along the highway. leave a comment
