Film: “Shoeshine” (1946) directed by Vittorio DeSica

Italy faced tremendous difficulties after World War II. The lira fell to 1/30th of its prewar value, unemployment soared, and savings became nearly worthless. This produced conditions of poverty, injustice and desperation.

It also produced a generation of children forced into petty crime. That is the subject of “Shoeshine,” Vittorio DeSica’s 1946 Neo-Realist classic. By way of explanation, Neo-Realism was a genre of film characterized by stories set among the poor and the working class—filmed on location, not in a Hollywood studio.

The story of “Shoeshine” is emblematic of both the genre and the country’s troubled times. Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordone) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghe) are pre-adolescent shoeshine boys who eke out a meager living shining the boots of American GI’s stationed in Rome. They also have a side hustle: helping black-marketeers sell stolen goods. The boys dream of buying a horse from the proceeds of both these gigs.

When Giuseppe and Pasquale are caught trying to fence stolen blankets, they are arrested by the police. Refusing to identify their black-market connections, they are sent to a notorious juvenile prison in Rome.

For any individual, the conditions of an Italian jail would seem inhumane (see also: Amanda Knox) but for young children even more so. Five young kids are crammed into one cell, fed abominably, and are supervised by corrupt guards who steal from their meager food packages and are always open to bribes.

While in prison, Pasquale and Giuseppe are separated, and their fast friendship deteriorates because of a misunderstanding. The story spirals downward and like many DeSica films may break your heart.

What makes this film extraordinary is that none of the young principals had ever faced a movie camera before. Smordone and Interlenghi are so genuine you never for a moment think of them as actors, and indeed, they are not: their naturalistic performances are devoid of any histrionic techniques. Plus, DeSica peppers the picture with the funny, vulgar mannerisms and slang typical of the street urchins—some of which my Italian-American father used. (Fun fact: Dad was also nicknamed “Giuseppe” like the kid in the picture.)

After its release, “Shoeshine" was instrumental in bringing about reforms in the treatment of juvenile delinquents in Italian institutions. It also drew praise from critics and moviemakers alike.

Orson Welles said of “Shoeshine”: "What De Sica can do, that I can’t do. I ran his ‘Shoeshine’ again recently and the camera disappeared, the screen disappeared; it was just life.” Film critic Pauline Kael wrote: “If Mozart had written an opera set in poverty, it might have had this kind of painful beauty.”

Shoeshine” went on to become the first film to win the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 20th Academy Awards in 1947.

In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."

See if you agree. Either stream it or head over to Film Forum where it’s currently playing four times a day. You will find it a stirring, less-than-two-hour-long respite from the current steambath known as New York City-in-summer.

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