a true Italian classic
9/10
Author: wvisser-leusden from Netherlands
9 February 2009

Although its mold of 1949 appears somewhat melodramatic today, the black and white 'Riso Amaro' (= Italian for 'Bitter Rice') surely ranks among the classics in film history. This very Italian product by Guiseppe de Santis shows a pretty ordinary crime story, excellently interwoven with an impressive decor of harsh season labor in the rice- fields of Northern Italy.

The thousands (hundreds ça ira)of women, up to their ankles in the water, breaking their backs in the burning sun to earn a few bucks, make a truly great setting. 'Riso Amaro' has been labeled as 'neo-realism'. Another issue worth mentioning is its female lead Silvana Mangano, ex miss Rome. To the standards of 1949 miss Mangano's performance in this film was shocking. This earned 'Riso Amaro' a lot of publicity, in particular in strongly Roman Catholic Italy.