Women's prison.

 

Author: Gerald A. DeLuca (italiangerry@gmail.com) from United States

13 August 2001

 

This film received only a minor release in the United States in a shortened and dubbed version and was shown intact only at some touring museum series many years later. That is a shame considering the stature of the two leading performers, Anna Magnani and Giulietta Masina, both of them great ladies of the Italian cinema. Their performances are riveting. 

 

NELLA CITTA' L'INFERNO is about an innocent housewife (Masina) who is falsely convicted of theft and is sent to a women's prison in Rome. There she is tutored in the ways of crime by her expert cell-mate (Magnani) and must live amid a company of prostitutes, murderers, and thieves. Their effect on her is not a positive one. Renato Castellani directed this lively piece, and Roman comedian-actor Alberto Sordi has a small role in it.

 

Prix David di Donatello 1959 : Anna Magnani Meilleure actrice principale

Ruban d'argent 1960 : Cristina Gaioni Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle

Prix Sant Jordi 1961 : Anna Magnani Meilleure actrice étrangère

 

 

This film pairs two of Italy's greatest character actresses, Julietta Masina and Anna Magnani. Masina is the naive 26 year old who is one of several "new comers" to women's prison. The new arrivals cry their hearts out to the women already doing their time. Magnani plays the hardened "regular", who keeps coming back.

 

The film takes a closer look at several of these women. Somehow all of their "crimes" are directly related to the dire poverty from which they are desperate to escape. Whether selling merchandise without paying the proper taxes, or sending an infant on a river ride in a basket (which sinks and drowns the child), none of these women committed crimes out of greed or malice. The Masina character is eventually exonerated and leaves before serving out her full sentence.

 

The ending (which I will not spoil) drives home the "message". Women in prison may act rough and tough, but they were all innocent once. Those who break the cycle and escape the life of small-time delinquency, are few. Their triumph over adversity is the hope for everyone else. One character, who has found her hope in a new love, said it best. "Now I know, that when I get out of here, I will never come back". To cling to this hope for a better tomorrow was on the minds of many people during 1950s Italy.Always look for a brighter tomorrow!