ALL SCI-FI

[Casey62]

BITTER RICE, Giuseppe De Santis' post-war depiction of female rice-field workers in Northern Italy's Po Valley, is a film classic that defies genre categorization. Part melodrama/film noir/allegory/documentary, it is probably most famous for launching the career of Silvana Mangano who, at 19, not only oozes with earthy sensuality, but also delivers a magnetically charged performance. Her character arcs from a self-assured, independent leader among her co-workers to a desperate, vulnerable and ultimately tragic woman. Mangano is also remembered by fantasy film buffs for co-starring with Kirk Douglas in ULYSSES (1954), in which she plays the dual roles of Ulysses' wife Penelope and Circe, the siren queen.

The plot in BITTER RICE deals with the rice pickers' most beloved comrade (Mangano) who gets mixed up with a small-time criminal (Vittorio Gassman) and agrees to aid him in stealing the harvested crop. Meanwhile, the crook's girlfriend and accomplice (Doris Dowling) begins to reform upon meeting an army sergeant (Raf Vallone) stationed in the valley. What lies central in the film is the role reversal between the two main female characters and the moral conflicts that result.

Director De Santis has this all play out within a neorealist style that also embraces familiar Hollywood trappings, making BITTER RICE the pulpy masterpiece it deservedly holds claim to being.

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

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Damn, Casey, you're good at this . . .

I've probably seen this movie listed on TCM over the years and didn't feel the slightest urge to even read the synopsis, much less watch it, because I was pretty sure it was a drama and not, well . . . you know . . . sci-fi.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I do watch lots of movies in other genres. I mean, I've made posts in this section about classics like The Fountainhead, The Long, Hot Summer, and Smokey and the Bandit (which has it's roots in Hamlet, if you really drink about it . . . I mean think about it ).

But your review of Bitter Rice makes me want to watch this movie for several reasons — one of which is to get a good look at Silvana Mangano and some of that earthy sensuality she oozes. And if the poster is any indication, I might have to watch the movie with one eye closed to keep from going completely blind!

Meanwhile, click on the poster and enjoy the YouTube tribute to Miss Mangano, which I watched with one eye closed just to be on safe side.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Casey62]

Thanks for the nod, Bud. Believe me - Mangano practically owns this movie. For years I've only known about BITTER RICE from that famous shot of her standing in the rice field in a tight, form fitting sweater and shorts. She delivers that aspect of it in spades, but it also truly is one helluva movie.

[orzel-w]

As a follow-up to my earlier post, here's a shot of Mangano as Circe from Ulysses.


` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `Circe from Ulysses.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Zowie! This gal is like a Greek goddess!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's another poster which features the sensuous beauty of Miss Mangano!




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_______________________ Bitter Rice - clip

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

She could put your eyes out with those things!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.