Nights of Cabiria (1957)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Cabiria is a prostitute in her 30s. Short and not as pretty as her colleagues either. She lost her parents when she was little so she was never educated or cultured and you can see all this in her character.The first scene shows her being pushed into a river by her boyfriend (pimp too I guess) who just wants to steal her handbag. She gets rescued by some kids and some local people but when she wakes up she absolutely doesn't care about them and is very rude and bad to them. She has had such a hard life, a life where people just use her, a life of no love or respect that most of her mind is just callous.But as we spend time with her, we slowly see that, just like anybody, she too just wants to be loved. But its subtle. She has been burned so many many times that trust is 'extremely' difficult for her.By the end of the movie, we will fall in love with her. You just want to hug her close, kiss her and tell her that she is truly loved for who she and that she will not be harmed. That is how good the acting by Giulietta Masina is (the story too). She has the most expressive eyes that I have seen on screen. If she was in Hollywood, she may have been one of the greatest actresses of all times! This movie is also not for everyone. Its a sort of slice-of-life of just one person, so it doesn't have a conclusive ending. Its not a, she lived happily ever after or she died or she achieved that, kind of movie. And you really need to be older, seen pain, understood the meaning of loneliness, what society is, what people want, etc., to see the heart and reason behind everything.Movie is on the levels of Tokyo Story, so do see it.

NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, Fellini sixth feature film, which marks that he has assertively reached the full- blown phrase in his creativity and sleight-of-hand at the age of 37, and anticipates the acme of his career, LA VOLCE VITA (1960) and 8 AND A HALF (1963). The story (with Pasolini inside the coterie as a collaborator), is a tale of woe about a roadside streetwalker Cabiria (Masina) in Rome, whose real name is Maria Ceccarelli.In the opening long shot, we see Cabiria gambols with his beau on a Sunny day in the field near a river, and quick as lightning, he grabs her handbag and pushes her into the water. Cabiria is almost drowned, the same course of events will (almost) replicate itself in the arresting culmination, this time, with another suitor, a well-groomed but greasy self-claimed accountant Oscar (Périer). Why Cabiria hasn't learn anything from her miseries? It is much easier to shoot out pointers in post- mortem, in fact, as we audience follows closely to these non-interrelated episodes of Cabiria's experiences, her wretched destiny doesn't strike more like a subjectively injudicious decision than a fusillade of flak targeting at the injustice of contemporary society and the worst of human vice.Cabiria is petite, petulant and starry-eyed, apart from a narrow escape from death thanks to her dastard boyfriend, she is perfectly content in her own achievement, her self-reliant means of earning secures her a house of her own and some savings in the bank, even during her serendipitous "one-night-stand" with a famous movie star, Alberto Lazzari (Nazzari in his Erroyl Flynn suaveness), in his palatial villa, she is not ashamed of her bog-standard house. Only when she peers from the keyhole of the star's bathroom when Alberto romantically reconciles with his trophy girlfriend Jessy (Gray), she realises there is something missing in her life.A pilgrimage with other working girls jolts her out of her hard earned fulfilment, she transforms from a non-believer to a devotee, daydreams a miracle will bestow on her. After religious epiphany, next in line is prestidigitation, Fellini cunningly alludes to the collusion between them, religion seduces a simple soul and illusion brings her the undoing. In the hypnotic performance, a cynical Cabiria unwittingly reveals herself, the inner child, a love-longing Maria Ceccarelli, which instigates Oscar, a spectator in the audience to conspire his act. Since manifestly Cabiria is not an accomplice of the magician (Silvani), then her state-of-hypnosis is indeed real, which is boldly against the common savvy, and can be perceived as a further tactic to turn realness-and-illusion topsy-turvy, with the sudden arrival of a Prince Charming, willing to marry her and doesn't want to know anything about her past, only with an ulterior motive.Giulietta Masina, what can I say, such a godsend to her hubby, a force of nature can effortlessly entice a viewer to vicariously discern and undergo her character's emotional trajectory, all the more she provoke immense sympathy along the way, the suspense-heightened final revelation is so gut-wrenching to watch yet it is completely captivating and emotive (bolstered by Nino Rota's sublimely emotionally manipulative score). What a triumphant performance, Cannes' BEST ACTRESS honour has never been so worthy!NIGHTS OF CABIRIA won BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE in the Oscar race, a consecutive second win for Fellini after LA STRADA (1954), unlike its tragic protagonist Gesumina, also played by Masina, who succumbs to the hardship and abandonment, in the coda, Cabiria manages to squeeze a smile through her tears with a parade of people singing and dancing around her, like a phoenix back from the ash, the message is uplifting, she may be homeless and penniless, but she has a true friend Wanda (an ace Marzi, in her very naturalistic mien) to rely on, she can go on working the next day and start every from the scratch, what can not kill you only makes you stronger, girl! Such a potent feminism manifesto, one might not expect it from a Fellini's creation.

I saw this movie for the first time last night, and I have to post my first review on the site to say it is really wonderful. Giulietta Masina's performance is truly one of the most impressive I've ever seen - her face is as expressive as Buster Keaton's or Charlie Chaplin's.The movie is a deceptively simple story about the day-to-day encounters of a prostitute who does the best she can to make a living and maintain her hopes and dreams of a better life. Her relationships with her neighbors, friends, and street-corner associates are a major focus, as are her relationships with the many men that come and go in her life. In the latter regard, it is obvious that this film was the inspiration for many other plays and films, including Sweet Charity. The series of people encountered by Cabiria in the movie shows us the full range of human reaction to life's adversity - some respond with cynicism and prey on others without remorse, some respond with generosity and hope, some respond by clinging to certain belief systems that don't really help them in a material way, etc. Cabiria definitely stands out as a unique character within the gritty, grimy community of post-war Rome, where there are stark differences between people of different classes and livelihoods. We can see that she is a good person living in a world that is not always humane or fair.I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it took a lot of creativity and inspiration to include the ending of this movie as it is - I'm sure it was as startling and unexpected to audiences in 1957 as it is emotionally moving still today.The direction, photography, and acting are all first-rate in this classic. Everybody involved was obviously engaged in a labor of love. I cannot recommend it more highly.

I have seen many great films, many films that I would have to admit are technically greater than this. But very, very few films have ever evoked such beauty and warmth than Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria". There is a certain poetry and honesty that haunts every frame in this film, and while the writing is beautiful, after the film is over you don't remember the dialogue, or even the story. You remember the moments, the faces, the images, the places where this film takes place.I have never cried during or after a movie, and I don't think I ever will. But "Nights of Cabiria" moved me as close to tears as I think any film will ever have the power to do.