Il Grido

Also known as: Cri (le)

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Steve Cochran (Aldo), Alida Valli (Irma), Dorian Gray (Virginia), Jacqueline Jones (Andreina), Gabriella Pallotta (Edera), Pina Boldrini (Lina), Guerrino Campanilli (Virginia's father), Betsy Blair (Elvia), Mirna Girardi (Rosina)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

Screenplay: Michelangelo Antonioni, Elio Bartolini and Ennio De Concini (based on Antonioni’s idea)

Release: 1957

Studio: SpA Cinematografica, Robert Alexander Productions

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.8/10 

 

Anguished when Alone, Anguished with Others

 

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Story-line: the setting is a languorous Italian town in the 1950s. Irma, the mother of a schoolgirl named Rosina, learns that her husband died three weeks before in Australia. Clearly distraught, she goes to the factory where her lover Aldo is employed, leaves his lunch with a co-worker and runs off. When Aldo catches up to her and learns what has happened, he is saddened but relieved: ‟We’ll finally get married… It’s been seven years after all…” Irma, however, would rather break up with Aldo.

Pluses: splendid acting by Steve Cochran (a violently passionate, disoriented Aldo) and Alida Valli, able support from Mirna Girardi, Gabriella Pallotta, Betsy Blair and cast, first-quality direction from a renowned helmer, a simple yet riveting screenplay that goes to the point and draws topical portraits of characters in limbo, impeccable production values, Gianni Di Venanzo’s beautiful cinematography even in unsightly locales and a lyrical, sensible musical score by Giovanni Fusco.

Minuses: none I can think of. By the way, the title can be translated as ‟The Scream.”

Comments: IL GRIDO, which doesn’t qualify as an Italian neo-realist movie yet captures some of its flavour, is the touching story of a man who hits the road with his little girl to mend a broken heart and find happiness wherever fate leads him. This early work by Antonioni, blessed with limitless humanity and poetic grace, is a fascinating exploration of one man’s restless quest for fulfillment and an homage to the women − deserving or loveless − he will meet along the way. 

 

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 Polytechnique

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Maxim Gaudette (the killer), Karine Vanasse (Valérie), Évelyne Brochu (Stéphanie), Sébastien Huberdeau (Jean-François), Johanne-Marie Tremblay (Jean-François’s mother), Pierre-Yves Cardinal (Éric), Pierre Leblanc (Mr. Martineau), Francesca Barcenas (the injured student near the photocopiers)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Jacques Davidts (with help from Éric Leca and Denis Villeneuve)

Release: 2009

Studio: Remstar, Don Carmody Productions, Davis Films/Impact Canada

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.4/10

 

 

This is a man's world
But it would be nothing, nothing
Without a woman or a girl*

 

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Story-line: while university students are busy photocopying material for their courses, gunshots are heard nearby. An appalling event is unfolding, one that will end lives and shatter many more.

Pluses: a strong cast delivering note-perfect performances, a mature and illuminating screenplay that explores sensitive issues even-handedly and yields several heartbreaking scenes, economical direction that manages to transform a senseless act into a thoughtful artistic statement, irreproachable cinematography, a restrained musical score and a courageous ending.

Minuses: none, except that this important movie and the activism sparked by the Polytechnique shootings of 1989 have not brought the Canadian debate over firearms to a satisfying conclusion until now.  

Comments: in its study of rampant sexism and hatred towards women, the jarring POLYTECHNIQUE pays tribute to the 13 promising female students and the Poly employee whose lives were cut short more than 30 years ago and sheds light on the  goodness that shines forth in times of crisis. POLYTECHNIQUE, a clear condemnation of all forms of violence, was early proof of Denis Villeneuve’s brilliance as a director. 

 

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*It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World, by James Brown, Betty Jean Newsome, Anthony (pka Sir Jinx) Wheaton and O’Shea Jackson