Giuseppe De Santis
Riso amaro

In 1949, Giuseppe De Santis created his most important film, Bitter Rice, during the peak of the neorealist phase, giving Italian cinema a great masterpiece.

De Santis’s cinema is a mix of social criticism, American style, and intimate stories. Bitter Rice, through the depiction of the condition of the rice weeders, immerses us in this dramatic story, where the condition of individuals is taken into account and magnified. The history is a container to introduce its intricate plots filled with characters, women, and men.

Bitter Rice begins with the departure of the rice weeders' train heading to work in the rice fields. Among them is Silvana, played by Silvana Mangano, one of the most beautiful women ever to appear on celluloid. Silvana is a carefree girl, seeking adventure; her life is full of trivialities. Among the rice weeders hides Walter, played by Vittorio Gassman, a deceitful jewelry thief, with his companion Francesca (Doris Dowling). Silvana becomes infatuated with Walter and, not knowing the true nature of the man, tries to help Francesca by getting her hired as a weeder. Another important character is Marco, a great Raf Vallone, who in the film is a soldier who falls in love with Silvana, but it is unrequited. Infatuated with the beautiful weeder, he promises her a life together with good prospects, asking her to follow him to South America, but she is unmoved by his declaration, being obsessed with the figure of Walter.

In the days spent working in the rice fields, there is an accusation from the director, clearly visible in the struggle of the illegal workers to obtain permanent positions. Everything integrates perfectly with the noir-style story. The plot unfolds slowly until the end, when Walter decides to steal all the harvested rice with Silvana’s help. During the end-of-harvest festival, she breaks the embankment, causing everyone to rush in, but the plan is revealed. In a final showdown, the girl realizes that Walter is only interested in her to obtain the harvest, and when she discovers that the necklace he gave her is fake, she feels devastated by her betrayal of her workmates. Deeply disappointed, she decides to end her life.

A raw film, an example of a crossover of genres, which at that time De Santis managed well, creating cinema that leaned heavily towards popular drama and realism. There are memorable scenes, like Silvana’s dance, which makes her a cinematic icon; she is criticized by Marco for these quirks for dancing and lightly engaged reading like "Grand Hotel," who in the role of Jiminy Cricket represents her conscience, trying to guide her back on the right path, which she unfortunately never reaches. Another scene I liked a lot is that of the soldier’s proposal to the beautiful weeder; she almost seems to make him beg, while lying on the ground as she moves her feet and looks towards something that cannot be seen. Vain words, defeated by an inner void.

There is suffering throughout the film, as right from the start, we encounter a pursuit that puts Walter at risk, who, by sneaking in among the weeders, manages to save himself, becoming Silvana’s idol, who keeps his hat as a symbol, almost a premonition. A film that, in its icy grayness, lets nothing show through, immersed in the moisture of the rice fields and the pouring rain. The figure of Francesca is very emblematic; she is Fausto’s companion, though not like him, by nature closer to Marco, who at some point in the film understands everything and admits he’s been mistaken about it all, but hints at a future together just as the film ends.

But Silvana’s hypnotic and funeral gaze before the final act is the film’s most intense and hieratic moment, daring in that continuously unfolding shot, growing until, reaching the last steps as if tamed by a snake charmer, she throws herself down them.