A good chronicle of life in Italy of the fifties ; both lovers take a rebel stand :Ciccio fights for a better life ,seeing the bourgeois merchant making three times more money than him without lifting a finger ;he epitomizes social justice,hope for the future ;Bianca ,in her way ,is as revolutionary as he is: to be an adultress at a time and at a place women were born to be mothers and housewives is certainly daring.

Making his hero disappear halfway through the movie may puzzle the viewer ; the flashbacks are astute and sometimes look supernatural .

On the other hand ,Charles Trénet's " que reste-t-il de nos amours?" does not fit the movie: if you understand the words ,it's too French to be included in an Italian movie."Les p'tits villages français " do not look like the Italian ones.

Wouldn't life be so much easier if we loved each other more? Not necessarily sexually speaking, but just plain have affection for each other, embrace each other instead of hate each other just because we are differnt or want something (similar).

But if that were the case you wouldn't have conflicts and some would say life would be boring. As is true for movies too of course. Imagine everyone hugging and kissing each other, instead of going at each others throats (literally and metaphorically speaking). Love can solve certain things, but also heighten others ... especially if it is considered "forbidden love" ... there is drama and fun here, but there is surprisingly enough also quite the amount of violence packed in here. I had no issues with it, but I imagine those only watching dramas may find it hard to stomach (no pun intended). Just be aware of it.

Watching this film made me feel what my father must have witnessed as an 8/9 yr old in Calabria. And l can confirm that this was as accurate as it can be, l know this because l was told as a young woman from the horse's mouth as they say. Young women being preyed just because they were poor and desperate.

Two of these women were family members of mine. One being my grandmother, my father's mother and the other my Aunt my mother's sister both, bore children from it!

The Italians suffered badly at the hands of greedy land owners and of course the Mafia! And to think these were the 50s not the dark ages. It makes me sad and angry to sit and watch what my father had to witness and many others the sufferance they had to endure.

Even though l had to watch this alone with my own feelings and thoughts, a good illustration of the times in southern Italy. The end was a bit fuzzy but l suppose With all the sufferance, they wanted to sugarcoat a bit with a happy ending. Concetta Gallo