The melodramatic impulses of neorealism are easier to see now than when the early films of Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, and Luchino Visconti were first shown internationally. While the movement leaned towards shooting in natural settings (especially the streets of cities damaged by war) and casting non-professional actors, even a film like Rossellini\u2019s Rome, Open City <\/em>sports a star turn from the beautiful and charismatic Anna Magnani. In Bitter Rice<\/em>, these tendencies, which culminate in the casting of Silvia Mangano, are taken even further; De Santis claimed that he was looking for an Italian Rita Hayworth. (Bitter Rice\u2019s<\/em> producer Dino De Laurentis married her.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The director forged his ideas as a film critic and screenwriter, contributing to Visconti\u2019s Ossessione<\/em>. His version of neorealism flirted with the thriller, from his very first film, Tragic Harvest. <\/em>After Bitter Rice<\/em> became a popular success, its impurity made it a target for criticism, despite de Santis\u2019 dedication to leftism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following their theft of a necklace, taken from a hotel, Walter (Vittorio Gassman) and Francesca (Doris Dowling) attempt to hide in the crowd waiting for a train to the rice fields. Escaping onboard, Francesca heads to Vercelli. She soon befriends Silvana (Mangano), a blonde woman who loves dancing. Without permission from a union to work, Francesca becomes an \u201cillegal,\u201d but she\u2019s eventually allowed to contribute to the harvest legally. When Walter arrives, he plans to stage a robbery, making off with most of the rice. Pulled in by his looks, Silvana agrees to participate in it.<\/p>\n\n\n In Academy ratio, Bitter Rice<\/em>\u2019s framing is remarkable. De Santis uses every centimeter available to him. The film contrasts long tracking shots of crowds with more intimate interior scenes. In the liner notes for Criterion\u2019s 2016 Blu-Ray, Pasquale Iannone spends a paragraph detailing the elaborate choreography of several scenes\u2019 camera movements. One never forgets that its characters are part of a larger community, and even indoors, truly private space is very scarce. As with Jean Renoir\u2019s \u201830s films, the world appears to spill out beyond the small space of the film screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For all Bitter Rice<\/em>\u2019s resemblance to film noir, Silvana is never treated as a femme fatale. Rather than dragging men down, she becomes corrupted by them. She\u2019s contrasted with Francesca, who becomes the moral and political voice of the film. (When Marco says \u201cjail isn\u2019t the only solution, prison never helped anyone,\u201d he\u2019s certainly expressing De Santis\u2019s own sentiments.) All of the main actors are attractive, but Silvana\u2019s beauty is the motor behind the story. The film\u2019s conscience is troubled by how sexy it finds her. Its marketing played up this angle: many posters sported a drawing accentuating her breasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite sexualizing Silvana, Bitter Rice<\/em> dodges sexism. Women play the most important roles, while men turn out to be unworthy of their time. Francesca can see the traps facing Silvana clearly, acting with a wary intelligence, trying her best to protect Silvana. The film depicts a nearly all-female universe of workers supporting each other, singing to each other, their words illustrating the tensions among them: \u201cPoor thing, the illegal\/ who works so hard, then you do not.\u201d Despite the physical hardships of their work, they\u2019re extremely lively, even jovial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Few of De Santis\u2019 other films are remembered today in the U.S. Rome 11:00<\/em>, inspired by the true story of a building collapsing under the weight of job applicants, is the only one with much of a reputation. Made in Yugoslavia, 1959\u2019s The Road A Year Long<\/em> earned a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, but it\u2019s unavailable to stream. If his films were available here, they can now only be seen on out-of-print DVDs. Does De Santis\u2019s filmography contain more films as strong as Bitter Rice<\/em>? One hopes that this restoration may allow us to find out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The new 4K restoration of “Bitter Rice” opens Friday at New York’s Film Forum.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitter-rice2-1024x768.jpeg\")
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