Cabiria Reviews

Giulietta Masina's finest hour, and perhaps husband Federico Fellini's as well. NIGHTS OF CABIRIA lacks the lyrical simplicity that made LA STRADA such a magical experience, but is an impressive enough display of Fellini's fascinating visual style to have warranted the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film. Set in a district on the outskirts of Rome, the film focuses on Cabiria (Masina), a near-perfect embodiment of the prostitute with a heart of gold. She's the type who understands misfortune to be part and parcel of life, but never loses faith in the value of life itself. When misfortune does come her way, Cabiria shrugs it off and continues walking the streets for money. A handsome movie star picks her up during a brawl with his girlfriend. He takes her to his fabulous home, but quickly discards her when he is through with her services. Eventually someone does fall in love with Cabiria--the shy and withdrawn Oscar D'Onofrio (Francois Perier)--or at least she believes this to be the case. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of NIGHTS OF CABIRIA is accepting Masina as a prostitute: this sweet and naive-looking woman, who stole audiences' hearts with her childlike innocence in LA STRADA, isn't at all typical of women selling themselves on the streets, but does express the dismal point that fate makes no exceptions. Her Cabiria is a sucker for a sob story, and this very flaw gives her a saving grace. As in the majority of Fellini's films, the emphasis here is on visual elements rather than on straight narrative form, relying on small details and eccentricities to breathe life into Cabiria. The film was the basis for the Broadway and film version of Sweet Charity.