Bitter rice

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Movie
German title Bitter rice
Original title Riso amaro
Country of production Italy
original language Italian
Publishing year 1949
length around 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Giuseppe De Santis
script Corrado Alvaro
Carlo Musso
Ivo Perilli
production Dino De Laurentiis
music Goffredo Petrassi
camera Otello Martelli
cut Gabriele Varriale
occupation

Bitter rice is an Italian film by Giuseppe De Santis from 1949, which is assigned to Italian neorealism . The film not only depicts the amorous entanglements between two couples, but above all shows an example of the class struggle in a society that is characterized by widespread poverty and is still a long way from recovering from the Second World War . The film was released in German cinemas on October 27, 1950.

background

In his feature film, director Giuseppe De Santis mixes the working world of Italian workers in the rice fields and their class struggle with elements of gangster films and melodrama. The music (the film contains some boogie-woogie dance scenes) and the singing of the women in the field work play an important role in establishing a relationship with reality. (The famous partisan song " Bella ciao " has its origins in the Padan rice fields.) It was no coincidence that the choice fell on the rice workers who had to struggle with their harsh working conditions, because the real role models often had to spend several months in the water in the hot water Work standing in the sun, only to start your journey home poorly paid in the end. These so-called "Mondinas" also played a pioneering role in the Italian labor movement, as they were already organized in a union and had introduced an eight-hour day . De Santis took this solidarity as a model to highlight it in his film.

action

The jewel thief Walter is on the run with his prey from the law enforcement officers. He asks his friend Francesca to hide them for him and to mingle inconspicuously with the seasonal workers who are on their way to a rice plantation in the Po Valley . Among them is Silvana, who dreams of a life of luxury and would rather be a dancer than do the hard work in the fields. Silvana soon finds out that Francesca has something to hide. Walter follows the women to the north and is turned away by Francesca, who in the meantime has fallen in love with Sergeant Marco and has shown solidarity with the workers. Walter wins Silvana with false promises as an accomplice for his plan to steal the rice intended to pay the workers .

Silvana deliberately floods the rice fields during the big farewell party in order to distract everyone so that Walter's accomplices can transport the rice onto trucks unnoticed. However, these get stuck in the mud. Francesca, who found out about the theft plan, turns to Marco for help; In a slaughterhouse there is a confrontation with Silvana and Walter. The latter wounds Marco and is shot himself by Francesca. When she reveals that the stolen jewelry that Walter gave Silvana as a pledge of love is false, Silvana recognizes Walter's true character and shoots him, he is impaled by a meat hook as he falls. Then she takes her own life by jumping off a wooden scaffolding.

synchronization

In addition to the better-known theatrical version from 1950, which is included on the DVD released in 2015 , there is also a second synchronization, which was created in 1984 on behalf of ARD .

role actor Voice actor 1950 Voice actor 1984
Francesca Doris Dowling Elisabeth Ried Inken summer
Marco Raf Vallone Max Eckard Thomas Danneberg
Silvana Silvana Mangano Gisela Trowe Rita Engelmann
Walter Vittorio Gassman Friedrich Joloff Christian Brückner

criticism

“One of the most famous works of Italian neorealism, which caused a scandal in 1949 because it realistically captured the passionate entanglements. The film, which is miserable in terms of acting, abstains from any intellectual and moral evaluation; However, it still convinces with its exemplary beautiful image design. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The film owed its great success with the public more to the external appearance - the lightly apron workers, the erotic charisma of its leading actress. In colloquial language in the Federal Republic of Germany, 'bitter rice' was for a long time a synonym for disproportionate breasts. So got into the smell of the spectacle, which was a realistic piece of social criticism in spite of some colportage elements. "

- Reclam's film guide

Awards

The original story by Giuseppe De Santis and Carlo Lizzani , on which the script is based, was nominated for an Oscar in 1951 .

Trivia

The thigh scandal

The workers in the rice field gather their clothes so as not to stain them with mud. As a result, female thighs can be seen in several scenes, which in 1949 was still considered unheard of. In any case, this made Silvana Mangano one of the first sex symbols of the post-war period.

mistake

Many descriptions of the film state that the film takes place during the rice harvest . In fact, however, the action takes place during the planting in May. The rice in the camp comes from the previous year and is intended to be used to pay the women. Each worker should receive one kilogram of this per working day.

Films based on the model of bitter rice

In the 1950s, attempts were made in Italy to build on the success of Bitter Rice with similar films such as Die Frau vom Fluß ( 1955) and The Reism Mädchen (1956) . Sophia Loren and Elsa Martinelli followed in Silvana Mangano's footsteps .

In 1956 the German director Hans Heinz König shot the film Hot Harvest . Located near Tettnang during the hop harvest, the passion drama, set up as a homeland film , is clearly based on bitter rice . King's sister-in-law Edith Mill played the role of farm worker Auschra. Richard König was the producer .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The miraculous journey of a song - struggle for dignity and respect on oe1.orf.at, accessed on September 3, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b Bitter Rice on moviepilot.de, accessed on September 3, 2013.
  3. ↑ Bitter rice on Wissen.de, accessed on September 3, 2013.
  4. ↑ [1]
  5. ↑ Bitter rice in the German synchronous index .
  6. ↑ Bitter rice in the German synchronous index .
  7. ↑ Bitter rice. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 30, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  8. ^ Reclam's film guide. 2.A. Reclam, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-15-010205-7 .
  9. ↑ Bitter rice. In: Zelluloid.de. Archived from the original on December 29, 2016 ; accessed on September 30, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b Pictures from the film Bitter Rice ; cinema.de
  11. ↑ Photo: Silvana Mangano ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ^ Obituary for Giuseppe De Santis - He sent the camera onto the street on berliner-zeitung.de, accessed on September 3, 2013.
  13. ↑ Photo of the scene: rice planting