Vittorio de Sica's Umberto D was the last great film of the post-war film renaissance in Italy. Out of the chaotic economic and social conditions in that defeated nation, there emerged a new spirit of enquiry, a new way of looking at life, which came to be called neo-realism. Its high water marks were Rossellini's Open City, Paisan, and de Sicas' The Bicycle Thief, Shoe Shine, Miracle in Milan, and the most perfectly realized of all, Umberto D. The story of a retired bureaucrat who faces loneliness, poverty and possible eviction in his old age, the film's description sounds bleak, but Umberto D is "bursting with life." (Film Forum) De Sica's favorite film, and revered by Martin Scorsese, who featured it prominently in his documentary about Italian cinema, this relatively new print has been expertly restored and must be seen on the big screen. 35mm
1951, b&w, 1 hour 29 minutes, Italy