Nights of Cabiria

Saw Nights of Cabiria, a punchy Fellini film. It follows Cabiria, a whore who starts off the film by being almost murdered by her boyfriend/pimp. She survives and decides she wants no part of romance anymore. She is impulsive and has an adorable, open, guileless manner. There is some meta-filmic business where a famous but jilted actor picks her up to soothe his sorrows, only for his girl-friend to show up. Cabiria watches them reunite through the bathroom keyhole, the music swelling with strings, she is a voyeur. She is us.

This also sets the thematic tone for her character. She is exploited and shunted aside whenever convenient by people who are supposedly her betters. She has accepted this fate and is semi-complicit in it, but clearly she is discontent and yearns for more. She goes to a fanatic, orgiastic religious ceremony, hoping a benediction is all she needs, but sits drunk and disillusioned moments later when her life fails to feel any different and her whore friends fail to be transformed into saints. The church scene is awesome and breathtaking, full of zeal and fervour. It's slightly grotesque, but Cabiria provides comic relief when she brays out a prayer, accidentally extinguishing her candle. Fellini seems to be using the film to imply that she is too improper, too inelegant and awkward to be saved, but this is a sly trick, for this only makes us root for her all the more.

This film was made in the 50s however, so the poor prostitute Cabiria can't wind up totally happy (this fact renders the preceding sentence a maybe critique of the films of the 50s.) Sure enough, she goes to a magic show, hosted by what is clearly a symbolic devil, and is introduced to a small-time clerk who seems to love her, but the manner of their introduction casts a bit of a pall over their romance. We end with a procession of partying teenagers, smiling at her and absurdly barking like dogs. Her life makes no sense, but it is hers. She hurts but is not allowed to wallow. She will survive.

A stirring movie, it's got a lot of low-hanging handles for drama-fans like me to grab hold of. Our emotions about Cabiria and her surroundings are expertly manipulated. No sooner are we feeling sorry for her than we come across a whore so badly-off that she literally lives in a hole in the ground. We are not allowed to feel complacent in our feelings, but are always kept more or less on course. A good show by Fellini, but then it would be wouldn't it?