The Wide Blue Road The Wide Blue Road Image Entertainment 1956 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 / 103 min. / La Grande strada azzurra / Street Date January 28, 2003 / $29.99 Starring Yves Montand, Alida Valli, Francisco Rabal, Umberto Spadaro, Peter Carsten, Federica Ranchi, Mario Girotti (Terence Hill), Ronaldino Bonacchi Cinematography Montuori Film Editor Eraldo Da Roma Original Music Carlo Franci Written by Gillo Pontecorvo and Franco Solinas Produced by Maleno Malenotti Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
	Reviewed by Glenn Erickson Lavishly produced relative to most Italian productions of its day, The Wide Blue Road is an uncompromising study of provincial lower-class fishermen trying, as always, to eke out a living. Yves Montand gives a standout performance as a stubborn loner who uses illegal means to make ends meet, jeopardizing his family's well-being and alienating his fellow workers. Evenly directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, later known for his anti-establishment films, the film has a pro-labor slant that translates as a call for fair play in a tough world of commercial exploitation. Synopsis: Squarcìo (Yves Montand) is a renegade fisherman who insists on using dangerous and illegal explosives to catch fish, while the rest of the men of his town band together in mutual hardship. His wife Rosetta (Alida Valli) and two small sons go along with his unpopular and potentially disastrous practice, even after events ostracize them from the rest of the fishermen, and break up the romantic plans of his daughter Diana (Federica Ranchi). One coast guard officer quits after trying to catch Squarcìo in the act results in an accidental death, but his replacement vows to catch the bomb-fisherman. Squarcìo mortgages everything he has to buy a fast motor to outrace the cops, but even he should know he's playing a game he can't win. The story focuses on Squarcìo's personal problems, and creates a character we can all identify with - the hard-working man who chooses to cut corners as a way to get ahead, instead of just scraping by as his fellow fishermen are doing. He's given a loving wife, two adorable and hero-worshipping sons (shades of Bicycle Thief) and a daughter, who need a stable home and social life. Squarcìo's rebellious response to his dilemma isn't the answer he thinks it is. The film says right out that the fishermen working the legal way with nets are the brave ones, breaking their backs in the hopes of a better economic deal for themselves. The local wholesaler is the only buyer for their hauls, and he takes merciless advantage. Squarcìo's tried fishing the honest way and knows that it will wear him down before he ever makes a profit. His bomb-fishing is not only dangerous, but drives away fish from the nets of his fellow fishermen. The fact that they tolerate his selfish meddling as much as they do has to be chalked up to the screenwriter's insistence that working men in general have only goodwill for each other. As it is, Squarcìo's illegal activities cause indirect trouble; when his daughter's boyfriend is killed hoarding explosives, in the hope of becoming Squarcìo's partner, a good police officer quits, and Squarcìo loses a potential son-in-law. Squarcìo gathers the powder he needs by opening live artillery shells by hand, a near-suicidal ritual. Then he blasts up a week's catch with one bomb, and is the only one to turn in a profitable catch. His fellows, especially Salvatore (Francisco Rabal) want to start a co-op to allow the fishermen to buy their own refrigerator and bypass the leech-like local wholesaler. But Squarcìo would rather stand alone, and instead becomes a scofflaw, even making a deal with the wholesaler to buy a motor with which to outrun the new, and more determined enforcement officer. The Wide Blue Road can be interpreted politically, with the 'road' being the path toward a society that functions for the welfare of its citizens. Capitalists would say that competition is prescribed, to give the fishermen choices - but Capitalism here has resulted in a functioning monopoly. Socialists would reply that only by owning their own wholesaling outfit, can the fishermen profit fairly from their labor. The co-op is presented as a dreamy hope (they even chant for its success), but what will happen when the co-op's administrators become greedy, or make shady deals with the buyers to skim profits from the fishermen? In this case, Squarcìo's independence shoehorns him into a tragic role; in similarly-themed films like Sometimes a Great Notion, stubborn independence is celebrated as a virtue. Critics who look at Pontecorvo's later leftist films and conclude that The Wide Blue Road is a communist tract should reconsider the picture in a different light - if the loner Squarcìo is meant to represent a selfish terrorist 'bomber', then the picture categorically disapproves of him. Yves Montand gives a great unheralded performance here. Squarcìo is strong and stubborn, but also a thinking man with a reserve of sympathy that goes beyond his family to the group as a whole. He's sincerely saddened when the first Officer resigns and leaves the island (mostly for not having the heart to arrest Squarcìo) and except for one confrontation, stays at least on talking terms with the feuding fishermen. The law is an unfair barrier to his happiness, and he persists in talking to his wife about pie-in-the sky success, instead of thinking through his present predicament. One can't oppose one's neighbors, defy the forces of the law, while at the same time keeping a steady hand when making bombs. Alida Valli (The Third Man) never quite seems earthy enough for her fishwife role, but the rest of the cast shines. Federica Ranchi is gloriously attractive as Squarcìo's daughter. Neither she nor the talented boys playing her brothers had big careers. Ronaldino Bonacchi is a predictable heartbreaking towhead, but Giancarlo Soblone is particularly good at expressing young Tonino's slowly crumbling loyalty to his wrong-headed father. When he defies dad by escorting Diana to a dance, we know he's already a thinking man capable of making his own judgements. Francisco Rabal, Umberto Spadaro and Peter Carsten (Dark of the Sun) are excellent, and a young Terence Hill (working under his real name) is Diana's second beau. Image/Milestone's DVD of The Wide Blue Road is a handsome enhanced transfer. Either the colors are a tiny bit faded, or the original Ferraniacolor stock isn't quite as attractive as Eastmancolor. In any case, the film is perfectly preserved. The soundtrack is clear, and the Italian dialogue basic enough for language-school dropouts like Savant to follow, at least a tiny bit. The show comes with a Trailer, and a DVD-ROM Press kit, with an interview with director Pontecorvo, and full press notes on the film, which was never shown in the United States until 1999. The DVD-ROM press materials can also be accessed on-line by anyone at http://www.milestonefilms.com/presspages/Pressinfo.html. The notes contain the fascinating story of Jonathan Demme and Milestone's efforts to locate and clear rights for the movie. The disc's package graphics and menu art are first-rate. As Milestone product is not available in every video store, I've been asked to print this toll-free phone number (800-603-1104) to help buyers locate vendors. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Wide Blue Road rates: Movie: Very good Video: Very good Sound: Excellent Supplements: Trailer, DVD-Rom features Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: January 18, 2003 [Savant Main Page] [Savant Links] [Article Index] [Review Index] [Savant 5 Year Report] DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson Advertise With Us Review Staff | About DVD Talk | Newsletter Subscribe | Join DVD Talk Forum Copyright © MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use