A young widow flees from Rome during WWII and takes her lonely twelve-year-old-daughter to her rural hometown but the horrors of war soon catch up with them.
Acting
Loren's volcanic maternal grief — she fought De Sica for this role.
Direction
De Sica weaponizes pastoral beauty against you.
Cinematography
Bombed churches and sun-drenched hills that lie to your eyes.
Director
Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren
Cesira
Eleonora Brown
Rosetta
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Michele Di Libero
Raf Vallone
Giovanni
Carlo Ninchi
Filippo, il padre di Michele
Andrea Checchi
un fasciste
Pupella Maggio
un fermier
Emma Baron
Maria
Antonella Della Porta
La madre impazzita
Bruna Cealti
une évacuée
Luciano Pigozzi
Scimmione
Franco Balducci
il tedesco nel pagliaio
Mario Frera
Peppuccio
Curt Lowens
ufficiale tedesco batteria contraerea
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Loren insisted on playing Cesira despite producer preference for Gina Lollobrigida; she became the first actor to win an Oscar for a non-English performance.
The 'Moroccan' soldiers were actually French colonial troops — the film sparked diplomatic tension for depicting Allied forces as perpetrators.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
IT
