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One of Vittorio de Sica’s earliest films, I bambini ci guardano, 1944, is an adaptation of Cesare Giulio Viola’s novel Prico. Here de Sica is on the approaches to the themes of his subsequent films - such as "Shusha" and "Bike Thieves".
Such a well-to-do family lives, the father, as always, works, the mother sits at home with a child - Priko's son, but suddenly it turns out that not everything is so good in this family. Mother managed to get a lover a couple of years ago, who now very strongly insists that she go to him, literally stalking her everywhere. And one day the mother does so, taking advantage of the fact that her husband went to the meeting of tenants in the evening, she goes to her lover. The father is completely confused, he does not know what to do with the child, first takes him to his wife’s sister, but there he is not needed by anyone, then takes him to his mother, but there he is superfluous. In the end, he takes him home, the boy Prico falls ill, in connection with this mother returns to the family. Everyone was almost ready to believe that everything was in order, but this was not the case, the lover and on vacation finds her, and she again runs to him. The father is completely broken, he gives his son to the monastery boarding school, and he commits suicide. The mother comes with their housekeeper to his son’s school, but he has already completely lost all confidence in her, first he flinches to the maid, and then goes to the priest who brought him there.
This is a love story, but love here, first of all, to themselves, how it will affect the child, none of the parents think, everyone is busy only with themselves. It’s hard to watch a movie like this, and it’s always hard to watch children or animals suffer. Here too it is terribly pity for the poor boy, who at such a young age, he is only five years old, is forced to face such a callousness of the adults. In addition, the people around them are like those crows who flock to carrion, constantly and completely brazenly sticking their nose into other people's affairs. And everywhere – in the house where they live, and on vacation, where they stay in a rather expensive hotel.
The film was filmed between 1943 and 1944, so many of the subjects he touched upon were considered unacceptable at the time, such as adultery, suicide, and child suffering, which should not have happened in fascist Italy. So here the director showed some courage, however, he still had to shoot two finals, in one, which we see, the child refuses to hug his mother and does not even want to approach her, he is pushed, in the second he forgives his mother and hugs her.
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