Blockbuster Drama for your Mama-Mia
Who is Raffaello Matarazzo? A question I would have found myself floundering on prior to watching his 1952 blockbuster, Nobody’s Children. In fact, looking through the lacking pages of Google and IMDb.com, one could say that I would not be the only one lacking immediate information at your fingertips. Outside of the quintessential filmography lists and the short essays that the Criterion Collection has released as promotion for Matarazzo’s Eclipse collection, there is little to learn about this maestro of Italian cinema, specifically his contribution to the melodrama genre. As Americans flocked to witness the avant-garde from Italian’s now-dubbed neo-realism movement (specifically Umberto D. – as well as others by directors like Rossellini and Visconti), Italians were flocking in masses to watch a different slice of cinema; specifically the melodrama. Like what we currently consider the modern soap opera (or “daytime stories” for the stay-at-home-mom) these were full of overly-acted characters, big-nearly implausible events, and a pitfall plaguing everyone at all turns. Though this sounds depressing, the Italian audiences ate it up and Nobody’s Children became a blockbuster. Demonstrating the sheer influence of modern cinema, Matarazzo realized that he had the potential for more and three years later a subsequent sequel was spawned (see the last film in the Eclipse collection - The White Angel). Yet unlike American blockbusters, one would have difficulty discovering Matarazzo’s work or visually understanding the mass appeal of the Italian melodrama. Despite the box-office bucks, this lesser known director’s body of work went “missing” for decades. Thanks to the Criterion Collection, it has resurfaced for new fans and Italian cinephiles alike.
Nobody’s Children is dark. Perhaps it is too early to say that for those reading this blog for the first time. Let me put it in a different light, Nobody’s Children is not the most optimistic view of the world, specifically in this small corner inhabited by Yvonne Sanson and Amedeo Nazzari. From a foreman that wants nothing more than to swindle his employer out of money and keep morale low, to a fire that destroys the dreams of a dog, all the way to a quarry explosion that ends in a depressing climactic conclusion, Nobody’s Children begins well below the bar and continues to drop in emotion as the minutes grow. Watching Matarazzo felt like my first experience with Requiem for a Dream or Kids, with dark undertones and deeply rooted causation results. Events happened, and due to those character choices, further events took us down the quickening rabbit hole. Like your American soap operas, Matarazzo sets up scenes which force his characters to claw their way out. After the admirably do this, he does nothing more than drop the floor out from under them. Take the idea that true love between Sanson and Nazzari is being demolished by an overbearing mother. Just when Nazzari believes he has a way to bring his mother to his side by bringing the company into the new millennium, she pulls him in deeper by crushing the words being sent to Sanson. This small event eventually spirals into a never-ending struggle to breathe. From believing that his true love had died, to discovering that she is pregnant, to thinking that the baby has died, to falling in love all over again, to a final big surprise by the end – Matarazzo keeps the melodrama in check as he proves that life’s pitfalls continually send you in the wrong direction.
Despite glaring arguments that our actors did a horrible job in containing the melodramatic nature of their characters, I actually thought this was a passionate depiction of life without the Hollywood roses. What impressed me about this film was that the quintessential “happy” ending wasn’t needed to convey the point. What impressed me about this film was, despite how sorrow-filled this film was, it still packed the theaters enough to constitute a sequel. American Hollywood may be able to learn a thing or two about cinema from Matarazzo – as long as it depicts “true” life – then audiences will approve. But, is that why we go to the theater? Matarazzo seemed to abhor “escapism” as we direly desire with the new influx of superhero films and constant uprooting of the horror genre. Could Final Destination 5-000 learn a little something from Matarazzo? The world may never know – but they will appreciate the work of one Raffaello Matarazzo.
Found as one of my five Eclipse films, this was another great adventure. Everything from the scope of the film, to the acting, to the clear lack of the unknown – what was going to happen next – kept me guessing until the very end and overly eager to see the sequel. Like the other Eclipse sets, I cannot wait to see what else is in store with Matarazzo’s work – and I am excited to know that I have seen at least one of this maestro’s films. A green highlight with blue star. This was an impressive discovery.
FILM CLUB #171 too. 
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