{"id":27700,"date":"2012-10-12T11:55:18","date_gmt":"2012-10-12T18:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=27700"},"modified":"2020-12-25T11:38:03","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T18:38:03","slug":"shoeshine-sciuscia-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=27700","title":{"rendered":"Shoeshine \/ Sciuscia (1944)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I know he&#8217;s a delinquent, a scoundrel &#8212; but he&#8217;s your brother!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Poster-233x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"233\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-27704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Poster-233x300.jpg 233w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Poster-99x128.jpg 99w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Poster.jpg 454w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 233px) 100vw, 233px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn post-WWII Italy, a homeless teenager (Franco Interlenghi) and his friend (Rinaldo Smordoni) shine the shoes of American G.I.s while saving money to buy a beloved horse. To get the last payment required, they assist Smordoni&#8217;s brother in selling a pair of stolen American blankets, but are caught and sent to prison, where their friendship and loyalty are quickly tested under the strain of the harsh environment.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Betrayal<\/li>\n<li>Italian Films<\/li>\n<li>Juvenile Delinquents<\/li>\n<li>Prisoners<\/li>\n<li>Vittorio De Sica Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary argues that &#8220;Vittorio De Sica&#8217;s first major film&#8221; &#8212; a &#8220;classic of Italian neorealism&#8221; &#8212; is &#8220;one of the most powerful social dramas in cinema history&#8221;. He notes that while the movie is &#8220;unsparingly harsh&#8221; (De Sica &#8220;wanted to show how postwar Italian society was insensitive to the plight of the poor&#8221;), it &#8220;also has a tender, poetic quality&#8221;, and he posits that we &#8220;feel tremendous sympathy for Pasquale [Interlenghi] and Giuseppe [Smordoni],&#8221; &#8220;inseparable pals&#8221; who &#8220;are ignored by society and are at the mercy of the times&#8221;. He points out that we &#8220;understand their fears, confusion, desperation, misplaced anger, and worry about being betrayed by the only person they love (each other)&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>I agree with Peary on most of these major points, yet wouldn&#8217;t quite assert that <em>Shoeshine<\/em> has held its place as one of the &#8220;most powerful social dramas in cinema history&#8221;. Indeed, in comparison with more recent, no-holds-barred films like the Brazilian social drama <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0317248\/\"><em>City of God<\/em> (2002)<\/a> &#8212; or its earlier counterpart, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1124\"><em>Pixote<\/em> (1981)<\/a> &#8212; <em>Shoeshine<\/em>&#8216;s storyline comes across as both contrived and highly scripted. Once the boys enter into a &#8220;brutal, corrupt reform school&#8221;, the plot eventually turns into a youthful variation on a Mafia flick, as familial loyalty and the fatal costs of betrayal become central themes. With that said, Anchise Brizzi&#8217;s cinematography on the streets of Rome remains noteworthy, and the lead performances are impressively natural. While it&#8217;s not must-see viewing, film fanatics will likely be curious to see this precursor to De Sica&#8217;s best-known neo-realistic classic, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32382\"><em>The Bicycle Thief<\/em> (1948)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Natural performances by Interlenghi and Smordoni<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Performances.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Performances-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-27703\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Performances-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Performances-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Performances-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Performances.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine neo-realist cinematography on the streets of Rome<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Streets2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Streets2-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-27702\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Streets2-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Streets2-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Streets2-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Shoeshine-Streets2.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s certainly worth a look simply to see the evolution of De Sica&#8217;s neo-realist sensibilities. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0038913\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1947\/08\/27\/archives\/shoeshine-italian-film-study-of-homeless-children-bill-at-avenue.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinematicthreads.com\/review.php?id=1056&#038;ltr=S\">Cinematic Threads Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I know he&#8217;s a delinquent, a scoundrel &#8212; but he&#8217;s your brother!&#8221; Synopsis: In post-WWII Italy, a homeless teenager (Franco Interlenghi) and his friend (Rinaldo Smordoni) shine the shoes of American G.I.s while saving money to buy a beloved horse. To get the last payment required, they assist Smordoni&#8217;s brother in selling a pair of stolen American blankets, but are caught and sent to prison, where their friendship and loyalty are quickly tested under the strain of the harsh environment&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=27700\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27700"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59426,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27700\/revisions\/59426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}