"Il Bidone" is an outstanding film, deceptively simple in its delivery but complex in its content and depth. It is about recurrent Fellini themes particularly of his early work: compassion, vulnerability and understanding of human behaviour in the most profound sense of the word. It is also a low-key Fellini film, pre-Dolce Vita, and without the excesses of style and grandiloquence of later years, proving his incredible genius for touching upon the most profound subjects without pretensions in a powerfully simple although not simplistic, manner.
These are of course the emotional manipulations of a master of storytelling and film making, but these are of such a strong and effective type that we don't care to be taken through such a journey. The film structure has that characteristic style, the picaresque journey, present in many Italian films of the 50's and 60's from Antonioni's first attempts to deconstruct a linear story in Il Grido to Dino Rissi's Il Sorpasso and the lightness of the "commedia alla italiana". There is a central axis, a route going from A to Z, but with various short stops illustrating different facets of the story and building up a complete picture of the main character's life. It is certainly very cinematographic but at the same time quite close to the experience of "real" life itself.
Here we are in the safe hands of Fellini and we know that the journey is a rewarding one, a worthwhile trip which will eventually lead to a better understanding not just of the characters that inhabits his world but of ourselves.
Augusto, the main character is a scum, a con man, a petty b*****d of the worst kind, an anti Robin Hood that without any remorse is capable of stealing money from the poor and the needy and make this his way of life. Like an addiction he simply can not stop himself of doing it. It is the drug that keeps him going. Although the film is never judgmental we can not stop ourselves after a while for condemning him, feeling rather sick at witnessing his behaviour.
In the masterly last turn of the plot Fellini plays a fantastic trick of deception that reminded me of the final scene of "Nights of Cabiria" and the need we all have to believe in others and be less cynical about our trust in other human beings. Fellini make us all feel like Cabiria and for a short moment we believe in Augusto and his redemption, we understand him and pity him.What a blow to trust and belief when we suddenly realised it was not at all the changed man Fellini led us to believe. He can be judged and be forgiven but whom by? Are we supposed to absolve him? The effect of the last image of the film when Augusto, having been stoned by his own accomplices, is left to die at the roadside is devastating. He makes a gesture with his hand, still displaying a mock clerical ring fresh from his last deceit, wanting to join in a simple family group of peasants, not different from those he was robbing from. In this simple movement he seems to suggest his awareness and desire for a better and more honest life, and we can not avoid feeling for him. The strong religious overtones, his cross-like posture in what seems almost like Augusto's crucifixion is perhaps suggesting a redemption and forgiveness at a different and more meaningful plane.
To deal with such a powerful subjects in such a simple and effective way, changing in an instant from comedy of manners to heart breaking dramatic situations without warning is an amazing skill that only a few film directors have had. Fellini was, and still is today, when watching some of his films, one of those very few ones.
These are of course the emotional manipulations of a master of storytelling and film making, but these are of such a strong and effective type that we don't care to be taken through such a journey. The film structure has that characteristic style, the picaresque journey, present in many Italian films of the 50's and 60's from Antonioni's first attempts to deconstruct a linear story in Il Grido to Dino Rissi's Il Sorpasso and the lightness of the "commedia alla italiana". There is a central axis, a route going from A to Z, but with various short stops illustrating different facets of the story and building up a complete picture of the main character's life. It is certainly very cinematographic but at the same time quite close to the experience of "real" life itself.
Here we are in the safe hands of Fellini and we know that the journey is a rewarding one, a worthwhile trip which will eventually lead to a better understanding not just of the characters that inhabits his world but of ourselves.
Augusto, the main character is a scum, a con man, a petty b*****d of the worst kind, an anti Robin Hood that without any remorse is capable of stealing money from the poor and the needy and make this his way of life. Like an addiction he simply can not stop himself of doing it. It is the drug that keeps him going. Although the film is never judgmental we can not stop ourselves after a while for condemning him, feeling rather sick at witnessing his behaviour.
In the masterly last turn of the plot Fellini plays a fantastic trick of deception that reminded me of the final scene of "Nights of Cabiria" and the need we all have to believe in others and be less cynical about our trust in other human beings. Fellini make us all feel like Cabiria and for a short moment we believe in Augusto and his redemption, we understand him and pity him.What a blow to trust and belief when we suddenly realised it was not at all the changed man Fellini led us to believe. He can be judged and be forgiven but whom by? Are we supposed to absolve him? The effect of the last image of the film when Augusto, having been stoned by his own accomplices, is left to die at the roadside is devastating. He makes a gesture with his hand, still displaying a mock clerical ring fresh from his last deceit, wanting to join in a simple family group of peasants, not different from those he was robbing from. In this simple movement he seems to suggest his awareness and desire for a better and more honest life, and we can not avoid feeling for him. The strong religious overtones, his cross-like posture in what seems almost like Augusto's crucifixion is perhaps suggesting a redemption and forgiveness at a different and more meaningful plane.
To deal with such a powerful subjects in such a simple and effective way, changing in an instant from comedy of manners to heart breaking dramatic situations without warning is an amazing skill that only a few film directors have had. Fellini was, and still is today, when watching some of his films, one of those very few ones.