pergynt

Sweet-sour comedy on Italy's 1950's rage to get rich as fast as possible !!The lead actor (Alberto Sordi) plays the part of a psuedo businessman who to satisfy his wife's craving for luxury and a "respectable life" becomes heavily indebted. In desperation he agrees to sell a precious part of his body for a large sum of money.But just before the crucial operation he panics !

The whole film is a grotesque comedy on Italy's obsession of those times to be "respectable" i.e. be rich,show it,and give the impression of being part of the respectable upper-middle class even though "secretly" you are just another of those "noveau riches". The film is very realistic and at times hilarious !Worth to see!

A simple film condemning religious fanaticism, and how the loving bond of a married couple is indestructible, despite the society's condemnation.As an admirer of Israel, this part of Israeli society was interesting to observe in its cultural and anthropological perspective.Too much slow paced at times with unnecessary love scenes is the only criticism I can add, otherwise a worthwhile film to see for global villagers.

I saw the film at The Norwegian film festival in Rome,Italy in the spring of 1997, and it was the film I enjoyed the most. I loved the dialect(Western Norway),the landscape scenes were beautiful. Ola Solum(film director) managed to make an interesting film staged in the deepest of medieval times and centered in a single valley of the countryside. The tragedy of the film is the arrival of the plague that kills everyone in the countryside hamlet except for a 6 yr.old girl who has to fend for herself for almost a year. When some hunters passed by(legend has it) she lived and behaved like a wild animal!!....and was treated with suspicion and dread by the neighbouring villagers ...as she had become according to them a witch !! For Norwegians this film as a special resonance,since the plague was considered one of the two major tragedies to befall Norway in it's history(the other was the Nazi occupation during the second world war!)..the plague killed so many Norwegians that the country seriously weakened came to lose it's independence and be subjucated to Danish rule for 700 years. It's a film only Norwegians can appreciate truly, for the above mentioned reasons,and especially for me as I am an ex-patriot Norwegian.