Gillo Pontecorvo, the expatriate Italian director of THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS and BURN!, is, if only for his sheer paucity of feature films "he only made five" an easily overlooked filmmaker, which may be why his debut, THE WIDE BLUE ROAD, an uneasy mixture of neo-realism aesthetic and traditional Hollywood melodrama, has long since been lost to history. Never released in the United States, despite the presence of international movie star Yves Montand, and the victim of indifferent notices from critics abroad, it's the kind of work begging for rediscovery, and, now, through the efforts of Jonathan Demme and Dustin Hoffman, it is primed for just that, as it begins a two-week run at New York City's Film Forum on Wednesday, June 6th.

The ruggedly handsome Montand stars as Squarcio, a rogue fisherman, who prefers fishing with dynamite instead of the more conventional, and legal, nets.. Though his methods are disreputable, his motives "keeping his family out of poverty while providing the less-successful net fisherman with leverage in their dealings with the local wholesaler" are understandable and even admirable; although, he is under the constant, watchful eye of Gaspare, a childhood friend who is now commander of the Coast Guard.

While Squarcio's sons, Tonino and Bore, join him on his fishing expeditions, his daughter, Diana (Federica Ranchi,) remains ashore, where she is courted by the young quarry laborer Domenico. When Domenico loses his job, he takes up an offer from Squarcio to steal a load of explosives from the quarry, an assignment which ends in Domenico's accidental death when Gaspare, intent on catching Squarcio, ambushes him, causing him to flee and, subsequently, fumble the volatile cargo.

Guilt-racked by his role in the young man's death, Gaspare resigns, and is swiftly replaced by a new commander who immediately institutes a zero tolerance policy in dealing with the dynamite fishermen. Initially amused with his new adversary's hardball tactics, Squarcio carelessly toys with the no-nonsense commander, daring him to catch him in the act, and, eventually, spurring him to set a trap, which Squarcio can evade only by sinking his boat. While the decision keeps Squarcio out of jail, without his boat, he is effectively out of work. Unwavering in his desire to provide "happiness at any cost" for his family, Squarcio will now pursue a desperate course of action with tragic consequences.

While Pontecorvo was a protégé of the pioneering Italian neo-realist Roberto Rossellini, THE WIDE BLUE ROAD, with its good-man-forced-to-misdeeds scenario, working class milieu, and the presence of, in this case, two adoring son sidekicks, is clearly indebted to De Sica's THE BICYCLE THIEF, the chief difference being Squarcio's already compromised state at the film's outset, which only worsens as his predicament becomes more dire. Pontecorvo also departs from the neo-realist edict by employing professional actors, no more obvious in the case of casting exotic beauty Alida Valli as Montand's wife, but the film's slow building resonance is unthinkable without Montand, whose expressive visage registers brief, wincing remorse with Squarcio's every unconscionable decision. Without this glimmer of humanity, Squarcio's fall would have surely alienated the audience.

Pontecorvo falters, however, when shifting his focus to Diana's romance with the doomed Domenico, and, then, with Renato (Terence Hill, credited here as "Mario Girotti,") the handsome young son of a rival net fisherman. These shamelessly, awkwardly melodramatic moments seem out of place, especially when set against the striking Italian locations, so vividly captured by cinematographer Mario Montuori, who, coincidentally, got his start working as a camera operator on THE BICYCLE THIEF.

Though Pontecorvo brought to his feature debut a wealth of technical experience through his documentary work, his confidence in staging the film's most powerful moments, especially Squarcio's dive for a submerged motor, is impressive. And while THE WIDE BLUE ROAD may not be as consistently brilliant, nor as groundbreaking, as THE BICYCLE THIEF, its emotionally wrenching finale is certain to leave even the most stone-hearted audience member in tears.

Scheduled for a two-week engagement at the Film Forum, THE WIDE BLUE ROAD is not to be missed.

Faithfully submitted,

MrBeaks

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