One of the old favorites I watched recently (and decided to share with a friend) was wonderful "Nights of Cabiria"(1957), old and almost forgotten classic by Fellini with script by Passolini (?) - both artists are remembered today for their other,much more controversial work so Cabiria is neglected today but deserves to be talked about as one of the best-ever movies.
The main character is Giulietta Masina - she is Cabiria from the title, lovely little woman who walks like a duck,has weird eyebrows, face of a clown and a heart of gold. She lives (along with so many poor people in post-WW2 Rome) in a depressing,industrial part of town, surrounded with criminals,beggars,pimps and underworld,apparently all alone in the world and yes she is a streetwalker. This unusual and unorthodox profession don't really describe her - there is nothing sexy or seductive about her and we audience are quietly feeling sorry for her and love her for what she is: adorable little lonely and brave soul who dreams and hopes to find a man who will love her. Every now and than things go wrong: at the very beginning of the movie we learn that lover has thrown her in a river and run away with her purse. Never mind,Cabiria gets in her funny little house trough the window (for she has no keys now anymore) dries herself and starts again.We watch her as she talks to friends, goes to work at night, runs away from police, hides in bushes and lives her desperately life with admirable inner strength - even if this life is awful, Cabiria laughs,dances her funny dance and prances around the streets with her little umbrella like it's all a joke. Yes,there are other women (taller,more elegant,far more attractive) walking the streets but she don't care. Yes,there are other richer people but she has her little house and is proud of it.
Only occasionally we get a glimpse of other Cabiria who is hidden deep inside of her - when friends take her on a religious meeting where Virgin Mary supposedly does miracles if people pray strong enough,Cabiria is swept away in a crowd and cries for a miracle, that Virgin Mary saves her from this miserable life. And when out of boredom she walks in a vaudeville performance by hypnotist she ends up on a stage hypnotized herself - as the audience laughs, Cabiria reveals that inside she is still that tender, gentle little dwarf we always knew she was and she hopes for a man who will love her and take her in his arms. While everybody else roars with laughter there is a man in the audience who seems to like her and insist to share a drink with her - his name is Oscar and apparently he is a good man who recognizes Cabiria's good heart. Of course,being Cabiria she falls for him in her usual style, sells her little house and says goodbye to all her friends, climbs the bus and off she goes into a new life just to find herself conned,purse stolen and at the end of the movie she is exactly where she was when we first saw her - and just as we knew she would,she shakes the dust from her little dress,start walking that duck-walk and gently smiles trough her tears as some street celebration goes around her. We know she would soon get her old life back and very probably fall for another guy without any reservation because that is who she is - lonely little streetwalker who dreams and hopes that maybe,someday,somebody might love her.
I don't know anybody who has seen this movie and has not fallen in love with Giulietta Masina - Fellini apparently did because he married her - she is a female Charlie Chaplin and so adorable that it defies any description. It's the magic of a movie that we still completely love her - even if this is an old movie now,black & white - and she is a streetwalker who lives in italian underworld but completely untouched by it because her heart is still innocent and pure. What a magic,what a movie.
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