A classic film of Italian neorealism that captures humanity in times of despair. “Umberto D.” is realistic and over 50-years-later, many can still feel compassion for Umberto because those emotions still run strong, as poverty is still a major problem today. Wonderful performances from the non-professional actors and director Vittorio Di Spica and writer Cesare Zavattini once again at their best.
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TITLE: Umberto D. – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #201
DURATION: 89 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Monaural in Italian with optional English subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio
COMPANY: The Criterion Collection/Janus Films
RELEASED: 2003
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Written by Cesare Zavattini
Produced by Giuseppe Amato, Vittorio De Sica, Angelo Rizzoli
Music by Allesandro Cicognini
Cinematography by Aldo Graziati
Edited by Eraldo Da Roma
Production Design by Virgilio Marchi
Set Decoration by Ferdinando Ruffo
Starring:
Carlo Battisti as Umberto Domenico Ferrari
Maria-Pia Casilio as Maria, la servetta
Lina Gennari as Antonia, la pdrona di case
Ileana Simova as La donna nella camera di Umberto
Elenea Rea as La Suora all’ ospedale
Memmo Carotenuto as Il degent all’ ospedale
Shot on location with a cast of nonprofessional actors, Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist masterpiece follows Umberto D., an elderly pensioner, as he struggles to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic boom. Alone except for his dog, Flike, Umberto strives to maintain his dignity while trying to survive in a city where traditional human kindness seems to have lost out to the forces of modernization. Umberto’s simple quest to fulfill the most fundamental human needs—food, shelter, companionship—is one of the most heartbreaking stories ever filmed and an essential classic of world cinema.
Director Vittorio De Sica, the famous actor and well renown director who was a major proponent to Italian neorealism of filmmaking and introduced the world to films that would take the world by storm.  De Sica had many popular films under his belt such as “Miracle in Milan”, “The Children Are Watching Us”, “Two Women” and many more. But it was the neorealistic films of De Spica that many remember. Films such as “The Bicycle Thief” and “Shoeshine”, films that epitomized showcased the poor and working class in Italy. How one deals with poverty and when desperate, the life changing decisions that are made.
But it was the 1952 film “Umberto D.” which De Sica has said is the film which he prefers among all the films that he has made because of its “uncompromising portrayal of the characters and incidents that are genuine and true”.
But “Umberto D.” was a film that would become noticed now more than when it first screened in theaters in Italy. As Italy tried to move past the neorealism and wanted to show the country as healthy, “Umberto D.” continued De Sica’s dedication to showcase people living in poverty. According to film critic, Stuart Klawans, “Umberto D.” was a film that was despised by the Christian Democratic Part’s Giulio Andreotti and it was his party who had control of the government and also the movie production loans and right for pre-censorship over scripts. Andreotti went as far as saying De Sica was guilty of slandering Italy abroad.
Needless to say, the film bombed in the box office in Italy and different parts of Europe despite winning a Bodil Award for “Best European Film”. But it appeared that audiences fascination with Italian neorealism was over.
Meanwhile in the US, Americans had a different perspective and gave the film a New York Film Critics Circle Award for “Best Foreign Language Film” and the film was nominated an Oscar for “Best Writing, Motion Picture Story”.
Before De Sica’s death, if there was one thing about “Umberto D.”, its that De Sica has always believed it was his best film because it was a film made the way he wanted without compromises.
“Umberto D. was a film written by Cesare Zavattini (who also wrote “Miracle in Milan” and “The Bicycle Thief”), cinematography by Aldo Graziati (“Miracle in Milan”, “Indiscretion”) and music by Alessandro Cicognini (“Miracle in Milan”, “Tomorrow is Too Late”, “Anna of Brooklyn”). And the film would showcase people who have never acted before, with the exception of the trained dog who had appeared in several films prior.
The film begins as the elderly men are picketing for a raise in their pensions but the crowd is quickly dispersed after the police arrive.
For Umberto Domenico Ferrari (played by Carlo Battisti), he is an older man who has given a large part of his life working for the government and now living with his dog Filke on a pension of 28,000 lire a month. He has no family and is barely managing financially. While Umberto complains to the other men about how he is barely making it, the other men are not in the same financial position as he is. If anything, the men wonder if there will be another war, while Umberto is just wanting to make sure he and Filke can survive.
We see Umberto trying to sell his pocket watch for money and trying to sell his belongings because at home, his landlady (played by Lina Gennari) is threatening to kick him out. No matter if Umberto is able to raise several thousand lire, he owes 15,000 lire and his landlady has told him that it’s all or nothing. She is so upset with him that she even rents out his room by the hour for men and women who need to get their business done which upsets him. But Umberto refuses to live at a shelter and refuses to have his landlady kick him out, he refuses to let her win and get her way.
At his home, Umberto has made a friend of the landlady’s maid Maria (played by Maria-Pia Casillo) who tries to help him when he requests for a thermometer or for water. But also, she finds comfort in Umberto because she can talk about her pregnancy to him. Despite Maria not knowing who the father is (since she has slept with different military men), Umberto does not get upset with her, he is there to listen and hope that Maria continues to listen to him when. Umberto knows that both of them live in a place which they need for survival and they have no one else to turn to but the main difference is Maria is still young, Umberto is not.
Knowing that the landlord wants to kick him out because he owes rent, Umberto comes up with a plan to get admitted to a hospital and live there for a week, giving him extra time to hopefully prevent getting kicked out from his home, while hoping Maria can watch over his dog Filke. Unbeknown to Umberto, his landlady has taken steps to making sure that Umberto leaves by renovating the whole complex and to make things worse, Filke has escaped the complex.
So, we see Umberto trying to find a way for him and his dog to survive but also seeing a man who is educated, has retired from good government job but now being put in a position of despair.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Umberto D.” is presented in black and white (1:33:1 aspect ratio). According to The Criterion Collection, the picture has been slightly windowboxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors. Â Picture quality is actually very good for a film created back in 1952 courtesy of the restoration done by Cineteca Nazionale-Scuola Nzionale di Cinema in collaboration with Mediaset.
Blacks are nice and deep and Criterion gave the film a solid high-definition transfer. The transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine in 2K resolution from a 35mm fine-grain master positive and thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration system.
I personally didn’t see any major artifacting and the scratches and dust are so minimal that Criterion did a fantastic job on the video transfer.
As for the audio, audio is presented in mono. According to Criterion, the soundtrack was mastered at 24-Bit. Pops, crackle, hiss and hum were reduced with an array of audio restoration techniques. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed on the center channel on a 5.1 surround system but viewers can switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Umberto D.” comes with the following special features:
- That’s Life: Vittorio De Sica-Â (54:32) A 2001 documentary directed by Sandro Lai about Vittorio De Sica’s career and behind-the-scenes footage from De Sica’s past interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and more.
- Maria Pia Casilio Interview – (12:06) Filmed in 2003, Maria Pia Casilio talks about how a seamstress with no acting ability won the role for “Umberto D.” and from that moment, how and why Di Spica gave her an opportunity to be in every film of his.
- On Umberto D. – Featuring text-based reflections of the film by Italian writer Umberto Eco, assistant director Luisa Alessandri and Umberto D. actor Carlo Battisti.
- 5-fold Insert – Featuring an excerpt from the book “Miracle in Milan” by Vittorio De Sica. De Sica talks about his love for “Umberto D.” and also included is an essay “Seeing Clearly Through Tears on the Smart Sentiment of Umberto D.” by Stuart Klawans, film critic for “The Nation”.
I have recently taken an interest in director Vittorio De Sica’s work. Familiar with his successful neorealism film “The Bicycle Thief”, I have wanted to watch “Umberto D.” but wondered if it would be too similar to another film that was released at the same time, “Ikiru” by Akira Kurosawa.
And fortunately, both films are not alike with the exception that you have two older men who contemplate their life as “Ikiru” focused on a man who doesn’t have much time to live, while “Umberto D.” is about a man who is trying to survive and knowing he has no one to depend on, but yet his dog…his only companion depends on him and several times, Umberto has disappointed his canine friend. His stubbornness and not willing to find shelter but to see if he can prove to his landlord that he will not be kicked of his apartment can be seen as commendable, and that the old man still has enough fight in him. In “Ikiru”, we see the value of life. In “Umberto D.”, we see an old man’s life thrown into despair and not knowing what to do with his life. Nor does he do much to fix it.
The film has so much relevance because I’m sure even over 50-years after this film was released in theaters, I’m quite sure many people have met someone like Umberto. Young adult or elderly, family member or friend… I’m sure that there are times we have been apathetic and also frustrated by such people.
The ending of the film can be seen by different people with different interpretations. I tend to look at it as man’s best friend giving the man a second chance at life.
THE CRITERION COLLECTION has done a fantastic job in remastering “Umberto D.”, picture quality is features nice dark blacks, greys and whites are also well done, especially as we see Maria trying to burn the ants in the kitchen. Or the closeups of a sick Umberto and as we see this disheveled man in such despair.
Also, I absolutely enjoyed the documentary about director Vittorio De Sica’s life and also hearing from the actress Maria Pia Casilio and hearing how cool of a director De Sica truly was and how he treated her so well. You can only admire what De Sica brought to filmmaking but also when given the opportunity to create a film with no compromises.
Overall, “Umberto D.” is a masterpiece. Cinematography was beautiful, the non-professional actors turned actors brought a wonderful performance for the film and Zavattini once again has nailed down a solid screenplay. Sure, “Umberto D.” may not tug at your heart or make you cry like Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” but the despair of his characters are quite real and relevant today.  It’s Italian neorealism at its best and is definitely a film I can highly recommend!
