Cinema
The Path of Hope
Il cammino della speranza
Pietro Germi · 1950
Synopsis
In a Sicilian village, the closure of a sulphur mine leaves the miners without work. A smuggler, Ciccio, offers to take them clandestinely to France, for a fee. Saro and his three children, Barbara and her partner Vanni, who is wanted by the police, and others sell their belongings in order to leave. In Rome, the police step in, and the group continues north, led by Saro.
Context
Shot in black and white, the film adapts a novel by Nino Di Maria, Cuori negli abissi, published in 1949. The screenplay is by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Pietro Germi, the music by Carlo Rustichelli, the photography by Leonida Barboni. Raf Vallone plays Saro and Elena Varzi Barbara, with Saro Urzì. Presented at Cannes in 1951, it was restored and shown at Cannes Classics in 2021.
Who it is for
A little over an hour and a half, in Italian. A road film about clandestine emigration, between neorealism and melodrama.
Prizes and reception
Silver Bear at the first Berlin Festival, in 1951; the film established its director's international reputation.
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