Nights of Cabiria

Fellini set out on the same road for the second time, again casting a woman of a hundred faces (his wife) in order to touch viewers in all corners of the world with the difficult plight of a simple person. It’s not a miracle (for which Cabiria waits in vain), but the sadly beautiful ending was stunning. Also from a filmmaking standpoint, I found Nights of Cabiria to be slightly more palatable than La Strada. 75% (09/03/2011)

Life is fragile and unfair and the blows of fate can be really hard, as Cabiria's protagonist could talk about from morning till night. Giulietta Masina nailed the role and did it brilliantly, all her movements, gestures, expressions and rapidly changing moods were very believable. And that she was quite annoying at times! Maybe it was the dubbing, or even the fate of Cabiria, but at times she reminded me terribly of a sort of Renée Zellweger in a mix of Ruby from Cold Mountain and Bridget Jones. In short, life’s a bitch and whoever wants to have it with minimal worries has to fight like a pitbull. (03/06/2011)

When you feel like your life isn't worth anything, hold onto your ideals and dreams at least, because know that it can get even worse. And in this case, it does. Hope dies last, but by definition, it is clear that it does, in fact, die. Fellini made a good film, but that’s not to say it completely blew me away. Giulietta Masina, however, is great in her role. (01/16/2015)