I really love De Sica and would be ecstatic if he went on to several more rounds, or even if he wins it all. Which is why it kills me that I’ll probably have to vote against this film in this match, even though I think this is a mangificent film. It’s just that it’s up against Wiseman’s Juvenile Court which is just as great in my eyes. I haven’t decided 100% yet, but this is maybe the toughest match of the cup for me.
Many people here I’m sure have already seen Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D., but it can’t hurt to see them again. And then there are other masterpieces like this one and Shoeshine that are lesser seen. Brief Vacation is also worth checking out. And that’s about all I’ve seen, but I’d love to see more….. Although I could say the same about Wiseman. Tragic for me that they had to knock one or the other out in the first round.
The ending of The Children Are Watching us is so powerful, as are the endings of all of his films. He knows how to wrap them up to make you feel like it’s the perfect ending for the film, but not a fake ending for the story of the world the characters live in. You always feel like it’s the kind of thing that is powerful but happens every day. Well, it’s powerful because it happens every day.
McBean
Posted on behalf of the films manager, Maximiliian Berkovicz.
The Children Are Watching Us
Vittorio De Sica in the 2010 Directors’ Cup
Vittorio De Sica
As many of you will recall, the selection of directors to manage in this tournament was a long, difficult process. I had chosen Pedro Almodóvar and Vittorio De Sica, and had to, regrettably, abandon one of the two directors due to an “eventful” personal life that took up a lot of my free time. This was an extremely difficult decision, as I adore the work of both filmmakers, but I dropped Almodóvar in the end. I felt that having De Sica as my only director would be an interesting experience: in my eyes, more of his work is unknown, or maybe even misunderstood, than actually appreciated.
I therefore saw the first round of the tournament as a fantastic opportunity to present what I love about De Sica’s work – but the choice of film selection was, as before, extremely difficult. Like many others in the competition, I basically have one chance to prove that De Sica is worthy of the long-anticipated second round
The Children Are Watching Us
The name “Vittorio De Sica” is, to many, immediately associated with the director’s most accomplished and well known films, namely “The Bicycle Thieves” and “Umberto D.”. An equally accomplished, yet lesser known film is “The Children Are Watching Us”, which is my film selection in the first round of the 2010 Directors’ Cup, here on MUBI. There are questions as to which film started the Italian neorealist movement: many see Luchino Visconti’s “Ossessione” as the first neorealist film, while many more have accepted De Sica’s film as the first. This debate has resulted in both films receiving far less attention than they deserve, which is why I have chosen one to represent.
An early film from De Sica, the innocence of young children is examined through five-year-old Pricò, who is the inevitable victim of his parents’ immoral decisions.
Luciano De Ambrosis executes maybe one of the greatest child performances in the history of cinema, with his continuous display of his character’s helplessness in his position. Pricò is forced to watch his family steadily fall apart in this deeply humane story, and a few scenes come to mind in which De Ambrosis tells us exactly what kind experience this is. This child made me understand the fact that children of this age are too young to recall their experiences, but have reached an age at which the sufferring cannot be forgotten. This only exemplifies the fact that this child is utterly defenseless.
With this performance, and the inadvertent betrayal and emotional damaging of Pricò in this story, I felt inclined to re-evaluate a specific relationship in my life, without feeling guilty. That is one of the best qualities of this film: it wasn’t made to invoke guilt. I believe it was made to raise awareness of the fragile adult-child relationship, and develop it as a serious discursive issue outside of cinema.
The relationship between Pricò’s mother and father is too full of brutal honesty. De Sica was in the midst of an affair at the time, which is maybe why the affair in this film seems so realistic, and not in any way misrepresented – both actors are well aware of the positions of their respective characters. On a side note (as it would reveal too much to go into detail here) it is interesting to me how both characters’ behaviours are affected by the actions of others, which is especially consequential in their direct relationship. Without revealing too much detail, Pricò’s mother, “la madre” Nina, is oblivious of his father’s intentions in their relationship, and Pricò’s father, “il padre” Andrea, cannot get these intentions through to his wife, which I feel is a frightfully accurate portrayal of many flawed marriages.
The inevitable flaws of the relationships examined in “The Children Are Watching Us” remain relevant issues today. Many relationships fail, or reach a point where they cannot be fixed due to exactly the same issues as seen in this film. I am convinced that anyone who watches this will understand how painful honesty can actually be relieving.
That’s why I selected “The Children Are Watching Us” in this tournament, and why I think it too deserves to be associated with De Sica’s very name.