UMBERTO D.

Set during Italy’s postwar economic boom, an elderly man living alone with his dog is determined to maintain his self-respect whilst suffering through poverty. A solemn entry part of the Italian neorealist genre.

This towering Italian classic is, paradoxically, supremely powerful in its complete humility. This was the last of director Vittorio De Sica’s great Neo-Realist films, which include Shoeshine & Bicycle Thieves, using amateur actors, real locations and direct themes of social and political reality.