Rent La Terra Trema (1948)

Social Realism. - La Terra Trema review by Steve

Unique political saga directed in the tradition of Italian Neorealism by its pioneer, Luchino Visconti. It's loosely based on a 19th century novel, but when the film makers arrived in Aci Trezza (Sicily) after WWII they found the way of life still intact. It's about the exploitation of impoverished fishermen by a cartel of wholesalers.

The dialogue is in a Sicilian dialect, not familiar even to Italians. The actors came from the region; the performances are stiff, but authentic. It is set on the rocky shore and in their crude stone houses. And the peaceful and wild sea. The crews have been stiffed by the middlemen for centuries but some of the men back from the war have new ideas.

Except the system is stacked against them, and their community refuses to work as a collective. One family attempts to break free from serfdom and their demise is excruciating. This is a persuasive, blistering polemic. Admittedly, it's likely that a documentary drama which scrutinises socialist solutions to poverty won't entertain everyone...

However, although the style is rudimentary, this is a visually haunting epic: of the boats on the sea at night, fishing by lamplight; the silhouettes of women searching the horizon for returning crews... It's a way of life that has been swept away, but the working practices are familiar in our gig economy. Visconti's masterpiece still applies.

The earth trembles but nothing changes. - La Terra Trema review by RhysH

Visconti films every shot with precision and awful beauty, there is not a frame out of place. This is the real life of the exploited working-class fishermen in Sicily in 1948, The actors, the real people of the village, show their story with genuine sincerity. They speak their language and every word is a cri de couer. Nothing overblown about the storytelling and nothing sanitised about the ending.