'Sciuscià' (Ragazzi) (1946)

Director:

Vittorio De Sica

Writers:

Sergio Amidei (writer)
Adolfo Franci (writer)

Release Date:

26 August 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

At a track near Rome, shoeshine boys are watching horses run. Two of the boys Pasquale, an orphan, and Giuseppe...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Fortune Teller | Prison | Orphan | Black Market

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins

Cast

Franco Interlenghi	...	Pasquale Maggi
Rinaldo Smordoni	...	Giuseppe Filippucci
Annielo Mele	...	Raffaele
Bruno Ortenzi	...	Arcangeli
Emilio Cigoli	...	Staffera
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pacifico Astrologo	...	Vittorio
Maria Campi	...	Palmist
Antonio Carlino	...	L'Abruzzese
Angelo D'Amico	...	Siciliano
Francesco De Nicola	...	Ciriola
Enrico De Silva	...	Giorgio
Leo Garavaglia	...	Inspector
Antonio Lo Nigro	...	Righetto
Anna Pedoni	...	Nannarella
Gino Saltamerenda	...	Il panza
Irene Smordoni	...	Giuseppe's mother
Peppino Spadaro	...	Lawyer Bonavino (as Giuseppe Spadaro)

Also Known As:

Sciuscià (ragazzi) (Italy) (alternative title)
Shoe Shine (International: English title) (alternative spelling)
Shoe-Shine (USA)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

UK:12 (re-rating) (2006) | UK:A (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | West Germany:16 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 (1953)

Company:

Societa Cooperativa Alfa Cinematografica

Trivia:

The title is a Napulitan corruption of the English word "shoe-shiner."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bye Bye Braverman (1968)

Heartwrenching commentary on impoverished children's lives, on friendship, corruption and betrayal

Since I enrolled in International Cinema at my university, I've had the opportunity to see classic foreign films in the theatre, and it's really opened me up to the genre. I'd have to say that this movie (Shoeshine, in English) struck me as one of the most powerful I've seen yet, a sad, bleak commentary on children's lives in postwar Italy. Shoeshine dealswith a pair of children living on the street, best friends who shine shoes for a living and whose greatest dream is to buy a horse, something they could actually take care of and call their own. Pasquale, the older boy, and Giuseppe, the younger, are drawn into a situation they don't quite understand the weight of. Not knowing that the Italian society is chaotic after the war (when children under ten years old are put into prison for crimes like vagrancy), Pasquale and Giuseppe are coerced into doing a favor for Giuseppe's brother, Attilio Filipucci -- they are to bring and sell smuggled American blankets to a lady fortune-teller for the Filipucci family's profit.

Without warning, police appear at the fortune-teller's house, and question her. The boys are paid not to say anything, and are paid just enough to pool their money and buy the horse. Unfortunately, the fortune-teller has the boys taken from the street and into police custody, where, though claiming not to know anything, are fingerprinted and thrown into a juvenile prison. The prison and events that occur in it force the best friends apart, and the previously light-hearted story turns ugly. The boys' environment corrupts them, and innocence is quickly lost.

Directed by the famous Vittorio De Sica, and with Cesare Zavattini doing his trademark poetic screenplay, Shoeshine definitely deserves its place as one of the first foreign films to with the Oscar of the same name. The Neo-realist De Sica does include some comic relief in the movie, and it's not all serious and depressing... The line from Giuseppe to Pasquale as they're walking up a flight of stairs, "Elevators sure are great," and Pasquale's answer of "Yes, I slept in one for quite a while," is one example.

To say any more would give away the story, and you simply must experience this classic for yourselves. My rating: 9/10.