On La Strada and counter/dominant cinema

Maxence Leconte

On La Strada and dominant/counter cinema.

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In this paper, tentatively named on la Strada and dominant/counter cinema, I will discuss the early stages of Italian cinema’s transition from neorealism to modernism through the analysis of a movie trying to establish new borders to reality in motion picture. While Peter Wollen coined the term “counter cinema”1 to Godard’s work, in particular Vent d’Est, in 1972, I suggest that evident signs of emancipation from “dominant cinema”, including neorealism, are seen in Fellini’s first popular success La Strada. My work here does not aim to react against Wollen and contradict his says, but more to add a supplemental layer to his project of defining cinema by redirecting our attention to the common definitions of what is “dominant” and “counter”. Indeed, an alternative structure to these definitions, as created by Fellini’s work, gives us the opportunity to discuss the uniqueness of La Strada acting as one of the essential root of modern cinema, from which directors such as Truffaut, Godard or Antonioni bloomed. I hope, with this paper, to strengthen our understanding of the genesis of modern cinema, in all its complexity. Wollen’s thoughts on counter cinema are exposed in a somewhat didactic piece named "Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d'Est." referencing seven established figures of dominant cinema and their counterparts. They go as follow:

Though the particular counter-cinematic examples cited above seem to characterize without apparent difficulties Vent d’Est, and extensively the majority of Godard’s work, I

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Peter Wollen, 1972.

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argue that a number of occurrences in La Strada can also be seen as representations of “narrative intransitivity”, “estrangement”, or “aperture”. Would this potentially translate into a constrictive definition of Zampano and Gelsomina’s journey as counter-cinematic, following Wollen’s description? Well, not entirely. A number of key features in Fellini’s movie are directly taken from neorealism, a movement that emerged after WWII and for which the Rimini-born director worked along Rossellini. This is where a problematic situation emerges: La Strada, as I will try to show now, very much stands as a middle ground by borrowing elements from a diversity of filmic traditions. This position forces us to rethink the dichotomy, usually Manichean, of a movie often placed between the traditional designations of dominant and counter cinema. My first commentary will revolve around the narrative system present in La Strada. The story evolves following Gelsomina’s journey in the footsteps or her lover/abductor Zampano, and would appear to be in line with the conventional construction from Wollen’s theory on dominant cinema: “exposition, complication, resolution.” Yet, some Fellini-esque moments seem to take a break from the narrative proper, causing a disruption in our linear understanding of the movie. The scene in which Zampano leaves Gelsomina alone at night after he meets another woman at a restaurant is one of them. This moment, I propose, is liberated from the narrative's codes to concentrate on the visual representation of a specific reality, Gelsomina's: in a full shot, we can observe her seating by herself on the curb when suddenly a horse passes by and vanishes in the distance. Aesthetically compelling, it is however difficult to find a narrative meaning to this scene, as the horse isn't a figure that will return later in the movie. Therefore, it cannot be seen for anything beyond the director's choice to create a break from the continuum of the plot with the use of a strictly formalist idea, giving us a new subjective sense of reality through Gelsomina's eyes. Another relevant example of narrative intransitivity is observed shortly after Zampano and Gelsomina finish 3

performing at the countryside wedding. Dragged inside the house by the children, our main character finds herself in a dark room where a lonely, most likely disabled child is confined. This scene is a remarkable occurrence of Fellini's manipulation of the narrative. We could almost believe that the director has us immersed in a different story at the very moment during which Gelsomina approaches the boy. Again, vision is key, as we meet the child through the young woman's eyes through the use of a shot reverse shot. A new level of emotions is established, as we feel the connection between the two characters, usually considered as outcasts. Both the child, isolated because of his state and Gelsomina, because of the way she perceives the world, are united on the screen to create a new reality. Again, the intransitivity here is made possible by the apparent lack of sense of this scene narratively speaking; indeed, this scene will not play a preponderant role in the story as a whole. As soon as she is chased, Gelsomina finds Zampano to share what she just saw. But as often, her guardian simply shuts her down, and the journey carries on. By inserting a break in the narrative, Fellini refuses the dominant discourse of a linear perception of the world, which echoes Wollen’s point of view: "Perhaps the most important is that he can disrupt the emotional spell of the narrative and thus force the spectator, by interrupting the narrative flow, to reconcentrate and re-focus his attention."2

By forgetting at times one of the conventions of dominant cinema, narrative transitivity, one step towards modernity is achieved by la Strada. But there is more. In my opinion, estrangement also plays a key role in our perception of la Strada as counter cinematic. Naturally tied to the narrative intransitivity, we face this estrangement in the main characters, but also in the way the movie is introduced to us.

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Wollen, page 75.

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To begin with, I would like to go back to Wollen's thoughts on estrangement before expanding on why it applies to our actress. Our critic defines identification in dominant cinema as the possibility, for the audience, to perceive the character on screen as a role performed by an actor/actress evolving within the limits established by filmic conventions. In other words, the main elements we capture as an audience such as motion or sound will not interfere with our vision of reality and fiction, or like Wollen states, will not invite us "into the world of representation"3. Of course, Godard not only crack these conventions, but he destroys them: use of multiple voices for a same character, calling out the spectators and elliptical editing are some of the numerous technics used by the French filmmaker to create a feeling of estrangement for the audience, resulting in the label of counter cinematic technic. So what about la Strada? Without referencing it as a clear objective, Fellini does play with the notion of estrangement in a way that could destabilize the audience. However, the Italian filmmaker does not enter the realm of total estrangement from the get go like Godard would do, and only a number of instances in the movie, mainly associated with the film setting and the actors, blurs the usual identification inherited from neorealism. Compared to a movie like Paisan or the Bicycle thief where time and space are clearly indicated through the use of establishing shots and commentaries4, La Strada on the contrary never explicitly provides such pointers. However, it is possible to identify the setting as post war Italy, and the accents from the non-professional actors evoke the ones traditionally spoken around Rome. However, no tangible evidence such as a clear visual marker can back up these assumptions during the entire journey. Therefore, the process of identification is already compromised for the audience. Another entity we usually rely on in order to know if we are dealing with dominant cinema in terms of identification are the actors. Here again, the task is arduous. Of course, the

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Ibid. Page 76. We can recall the six different chapters filmed in six different regions of Italy from Rossellini, in a documentary like fashion. 4

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actors and actresses in La Strada never go to such extent as calling out the spectators, as seen in Godard’s films. Hence, the estrangement with our actors is not primarily caused by what is pointed out by Wollen in term of causes (direct address, commentary). But the consequence he addresses are still visible in the movie though one question: “What is this film for?”5 I understand this question as directed to the role played by the main actors in Fellini’s movie. Going back to their use in neorealism or classic Hollywood, actors and actresses were given a role that could allow the audience to identify with them on a rational level. We can think of the bond created between Bruno Ricci and his dad in the bicycle thief, or the dramatic realization of war bombings by Joe in Paisan. All these roles create a level of empathy felt by the spectator. In La Strada, the predominant feeling created by the actors is the one of confusion and therefore estrangement, consequence of the uncanny and surrealist ways Gelsomina, Zampano and Il Matto act. We are introduced to Il Matto during the tightrope scene, which acts as a metaphor of his character, light and volatile. Due to the high contrast between the fool, who is almost shining, and the rest of a mise en scène very toned down, it is difficult to perceive the fool’s features. This unsettling way to present a character is reinforced by Fellini as he captures the moment using a full shot from a low angle focusing on the actor, who can then only be identified through his spectacular act. Here, the symbolic character of the fool is accentuated and becomes more important than the man himself. This goes against any precepts established by neorealism. In a similar vein, Gelsomina and Zampano also need to be approached on a symbolic level. We are introduced to the young girl at the very beginning of the film, as she collects sticks on the beach for no apparent reason, if it is the mere pleasure of enjoying a life of innocence. Identifying with Gelsomina on a concrete and tangible level is hard for the audience too, as she is not the loquacious type, and rarely evokes her inner desire and

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Wollen, page 76.

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feelings. Symbol of purity who turns alienated after witnessing the death of Il Matto, Gelsomina functions as the opposite of Zampano. The insensitive man appears to be the most in line with the expectations created by dominant cinema, but his complete change of behavior at the end of the movie creates a stretch and confuses the audience: after killing Il Matto, and being responsible for Gelsomina’s death, the spectator can’t feel anything but despise for the circus man. However, as the camera slowly zooms out to leave the brute in tears on the beach in the last seconds of the film, more empathy is felt for the character. This also goes against traditional identification process, in which a good character is easily differentiated from a villain from the beginning of a movie until the end. In many ways in La Strada, the characters serve one purpose through their actions which is to demonstrate Fellini’s capacity to create a new realism, more emotional than material, thanks to the medium of cinema. Peter Bondanella summarizes the Italian filmmaker’s aim as follows : “Fellini is concerned with the failure of communication between humans and the resultant spiritual poverty in life.” 6

One example of this spiritual crisis in La Strada can be identified in the story of the pebble. As Zampano spends the night in jail, Gelsomina faces the following double questioning: will she stay for Zampano or not, and what is she in this world for? This questioning echoes most of the French new wave’s films, in which the quest for a life’s meaning is essential, taking a break from neorealism’s survivalist values. When the fool narrates the story of the little pebble to Gelsomina, explaining her than even the insignificant object had a purpose, a sense of spirituality is created. Not only is this scene the most constructed narratively within the film, but it is also the most allegoric and universal. Again here, Bondanella stresses this very Fellini-esque way to approach this subjective reality:

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Bondanella, page 131.

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“Fellini achieves this marvelous sense of mystery by treating the unpredictable, the unexpected and the extraordinary just as if it were part of everyday life.”7

By elevating the banal, by reinforcing the symbolic traits of his characters rather than anchoring them in mere realism, Fellini steps out of the conventions established by dominant cinema. A last topic drawn from Wollen’s piece I wish to discuss concerns “aperture”. I suggest that La Strada is actually built on the notions of open-endedness and intertextuality, and therefore goes beyond neorealism and its traditional self-contained development. As Wollen describes it, the aperture of counter cinema provides “a kind of ‘surplus’ of meaning […] a bonus for those who catch the allusion”.8 In this particular instance, Fellini did a remarkable work by importing Italian acting origins the Commedia dell’arte from the stage onto the screen. Indeed, the three main characters in La Strada all possess their theatrical counterpart in the Commedia. Il Matto plays the Arlecchino, an agile and witty character, who is also a famous trickster. With his tiny violin, Il Matto is an entertainer and picks on everyone, especially gloomier characters like Zampano. The latter finds a natural counterpart in the character of Pulcinella in the Commedia; a brutish, earthy and non-conversational man who often plays dumb to avoid attachment. He is the clear opposite of Arlecchino, both in the Commedia and on screen. But an interesting layer is added from the Commedia to the movie by Fellini; actors only act on stage in the realm of the theater and leave the animosity behind, whereas our two men aren’t only opposed in the circus but also in real life, to the point of witnessing one killing the other. This particularity of being stuck into a role so to say could be translated as one of Fellini’s critic of failure to communicate, caused by society’s push for normativity. This theme is touched on in La Strada for the first time by the director and is

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Ibid, page 133. Wollen, page 78.

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seen again in 8 ½ and La Dolce Vita for example. This is a striking example of rebellion against dominant cinema that directors like Godard of course but also Antonioni and his trilogy of alienation will push further after Fellini. The last Commedia character is Pierrot, played by Gelsomina. This occurrence is even more interesting as a supplemental development is added to her character in the movie. Starting off as the willing slave, the person deprived from any social wit, her character is transformed in a more optimistic one after the story of the pebble. The moment she discovers new horizons, she blossoms: her name literally means jasmine in Italian. In a sense, and despite her apparent flaws at the beginning of the film, Gelsomina finds herself and changes others. The aperture evoked by Wollen takes on a new level as the movie transports us from a literal meaning of journey for La Strada, the road, to the journey of a self-discovery through life and hardships. To achieve this symbolism, from neorealism to emotional and spiritual realism a last aspect of the movie needs to be evoked: the motif. The idea of spiritualism arises from the music Gelsomina used to sing. A few years after he abandoned her companion, Zampano hears the unforgettable score walking in a town where his circus performs. Soon, a woman tells him that Gelsomina passed, after going through a partially alienated end of life. However, the music outlives the young woman, giving her the almost legendary aura of a saint, unmistakable mark of metaphysical realism in La Strada. In order to conclude this essay, I would like to start off by highlighting the key features which, in my opinion, make La Strada a problematic movie if studied through the lens of Wollen’s article on counter cinema. Indeed, my aim here was to demonstrate that a movie cannot always find a perfect balance between dominant and counter cinema; La Strada offers a perfect example of the road accomplished by movies from neorealism to modernity. The narrative system is not as linear as it used to be presented in movies such as Paisan or the bicycle thief, though less than a decade apart from Fellini’s film. The use of narrative breaks 9

reinforces the idea of Fellini’s strive for emotional realism. An example providing us with the sense of a new realities is the incongruous encounter between Gelsomina and the little boy, a perfectly surreal and digressive scene. Estrangement is also perceived throughout the movie, not only through the lack of spatial and chronological landmarks, but also through the impossibility to deeply connect with the characters in a neorealist sense; indeed, the actors serve a more symbolic purpose than the previous roles of relatable, tangible figures we can identify with in the bicycle thief or Paisan. Finally, the intertextual character of the movie, with parallels between the Commedia dell’arte and its transposition onto the screen associated with the evolution of Gelsomina, her physical death but spiritual survival reinforces the idea that the movie goes beyond conventional cinema. In many ways, Fellini starts the first break from filmic conventions with La Strada, while staying in line with some of its aspects, such as transparency. By creating the first momentum that will bring on the counter cinematic rise, the Italian director proves us that a film can find a place between conventional cinema and new contemporary practices.

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References: Bondanella, Peter E. Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present. New York: F. Ungar Pub., 1983. Print. Wollen, Peter. Godard and counter-cinema, Vent d’Est. The European Cinema reader, ch. 9: 74-82. Routledge 2002.

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