One of the architects of Italian neo-realism, the movement that dragged movies out of the studio and into the streets following World War II, Vittorio De Sica is probably best known for his touching Bicycle Thieves (1948). Two years earlier, the release of Shoeshine helped set the stage with its non-professional cast shot in the ruins of an Italy not yet at peace. Shoeshine startled American audiences. Although the New York Times said it was “not a pretty picture to contemplate nor is it by any means a well-made picture,” the critic went on to praise the film for its “emotional force.” It earned an Oscar in 1948. Shoeshine has been reissued on DVD, beautifully restored and remastered.
In outline, Shoeshine often follows the pattern of the era's Hollywood narrative films, complete with a dramatic orchestral score and the adventures of bright-eyed dead-end kids. Clearly on the children's side, De Sica films from their perspective, representing them sweetly but without saccharine or condescension. Two friends, shining shoes for occupying American troops and hoping to save money to buy a horse, fall into trouble and are clamped into a juvenile prison. The material and spiritual deprivation of Italian society is pervasive; the guards steel from prisoners who are accused of theft. The story unfolds in the midst of real settings, except for the melancholy ending whose darkly lit soundstage lends Shoeshine a slight touch of Hollywood fantasy.
De Sica's humane vision shines throughout. Many of the adults working in the prison are weary and overwhelmed, shouldering their own burdens. The kids are afflicted by bureaucratic cruelties but also the universal cruelty of children toward one another. In a place where many parents are dead or missing and poverty is pervasive, society seems more the culprit behind the scenario than any individual.
