Film Review: Bitter Rice (Riso amaro, 1949)

One of the more underrated giants of 20th Century cinema is Dino De Laurentiis, producer credited for much of post-WW2 boom of Italian cinema industry. The film that brought him international renown and paved the way for many screen triumphs in next four decades was Bitter Rice, 1949 drama directed by Giuseppe De Santis, which is considered to be one of the grand classics of Italian neorealist movement.

The plot begins in May 1948 in Po Valley. Like every year at that time, thousands of women are traditionally seeking work at rice paddies in Province of Vercelli, being considered better suited for harvesting than men. They are joined by Francesca (played by Doris Dowling), who boards the train in order to escape police together with her boyfriend Walter (played by Vittorio Gassman), petty criminal who has just robbed a hotel. On the train Francesca meets and befriends Silvana (played by Silvana Mangano), beautiful woman who, although only 18 years old, is more experienced, at least in terms of farm working. Silvana and Francesca begin noticing Marco (played by Raf Vallone), Italian Army sergeant from nearby barracks, who is about to be discharged and who takes interest in Silvana, thinking she could be perfect companion when he starts new life somewhere in Latin America. Silvana is, on the other hand, more interested in Walter who came to hide on the farm and who decides to use Silvana’s infatuation and recruit her for his criminal scheme that involves theft of rice harvest.

On a strictly formal level, Bitter Rice looks like a textbook example of Italian neorealist cinema. The main theme of the plot deals with difficult economic and social conditions in post-WW2 Italy, while authentic locations being used instead of studio sets. Social issues are even more emphasised by director Giuseppe De Santis, member of Italian Communist Party. He portrays women of the different ages, looks, marital statuses, backgrounds and even races as joined together not by dire economic need, but also by certain sense of class consciousness that would allow not only to enjoy camaraderie and fun while not at work, but also work out the inevitable conflicts between their ranks – the one between unionised or non-unionised workers being the most obvious.

Yet, at the same time Bitter Rice looks much more polished in technical terms and with better prodiction values in comparison with earliest Neorealist works by Roberto Rossellini. De Santis uses plenty of tracking and crane shots to display scenes that, for the mere fact of having hundreds of extras, make film look epic, which is quite an achievement for something which is supposed to be social drama. The casting also represent deviation from Neorealist principles. Role of Francesca was played by Doris Dowling, Hollywood actress who became one of the pioneers to to seek greener pastures in Italian cinema. Role of Walter was played by Vittorio Gassman, already established as some sort of Italian matinee idol. This was the first major role of Raf Vallone, former journalist and soccer player who displayed great masculine charm and physicality, making strong comparisons with Burt Lancaster. But it was Silvana Mangano, 19-year old former Miss Italy, which caught audience’s imagination with her untamed sensuality and display of raw sexual power. In Bitter Rice she appeared dressed provocatively in torn black stockings, and even nude in one brief moment. Her ample breasts, which featured prominently at the film’s posters, helped her to become one of the first sex symbols of post-WW2 Italian cinema and brought to cinema millions of male viewers who otherwise wouldn’t care much about social dramas.

For Mangano, who would soon marry De Laurentiis and later star in many Italian classics, role of Silvana was the most iconic of her career. Her character and image was also modelled after Rita Hayworth, which also was part of intention for De Santis, who portrayed Silvana’s fondness of boogie-woogie and dreams of future life of United States as endorsement of commercialism and capitalism. Unsurprisingly, Silvana, despite being a blonde, serves as archetype of bad girl in film noir, genre that Bitter Rice partly belongs. Dowling, who is brunette, is ultimately a woman who, unlike brunettes in film noir, becomes hero in the end. De Santis’ film also manages to fuse social drama with “noirish” crime thriller and final showdown, despite all the melodrama, works. What deprives Bitter Rice of masterpiece status are few mishandled scenes in the middle. That includes fight between Marco and Walter that seems over-choreographed, while conflict between Silvana and Francesca manifests itself through impromptu work songs, turning this film into unintentional parody of itself. Despite those flaws, Bitter Rice is a very good film that deserved its success at the box office and it should be praised not only for paving fruitful careers for people involved in it.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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