Ah yah...my second Fellini film - I thought it was my first but forgot he directed Amacord which I watched about 14 months ago - THAT film stuck with me as one of my initial fav's - so much so I almost bought the blu-ray
THIS ONE - took some time to get into - I guess it's one of the last of Fellini's Neo-Realism films before he got more into his surreal style. I honestly struggled to get into it the first two times and had to stop (and go to bed) about 1/4 and 1/2 way in but then I finished it up and got a lot more sympathy for the protagonist in the second half.
Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, plays Cabiria, the prostitute with a heart of gold? in this film - she brings an almost vaudeville approach - (others have said Chaplin) to the character. It made it a little hard for me to find sympathy for her early on, although the first scene in the film is a hard luck one
the DVD is out of print on Criterion - the film is currently on Filmstruck - as I was able to find it at the library, I can confirm there are some interesting interviews, clips on restoration, and commentary on a scene which was deleted from the initial print and readded a few years later - (and in this edition, before I knew it had been deleted, which is a decision I don't disagree with the producer on) - some interesting early clips where the character briefly appeared in a 1952 film, and the like. It won't be my favorite Fellini film, but now that it's done I can say I'm glad I watched it, and I have another one in the barrel which I guess might make Fellini my most watched director up to this point BUT we also have some more Kurosawa coming up too.
Not a bad film - just takes some time to get into and if you're tired, watching a film with subtitles that you're not terribly into is a good way to fall asleep in the lazy-boy - good times
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