Neo' meets Sur' in realism in Vittorio De Sica's Miracle in Milan. Taking a sharp turn from his grounded in verismo masterpieces (Shoeshine, The Bicycle Thief) De Sica enters into the world of fantasy in this farfetched tale of poverty and capitalism that somehow finds itself on the side of both socialism and spiritualism at the same time.
An elderly woman finds a baby abandoned in her garden decides to raise him and calls him Toto. When she passes away he's sent to an orphanage and released as a teen full of idealism in a challenging world that does not feel the same way. He soon finds himself in a homeless camp where his enthusiasm becomes infectious and the inhabitants make an effort to spiff the place up. Big business buys the property however and Toto and the community are soon under siege. Attaining power by way of his angelic foster mother he then begins to grant wishes to the poor who soon turn greedy.
Miracle is filled with poignant moments such as the old woman's discovery of the baby and the funeral cortege followed by the child as the only mourner through a gloomy Milan, comically joined for a moment by a criminal on the run. The dirt poor poverty of the camp is also a scene of many comic moments with the dispossessed running for sunlight or a man consuming a chicken he won in the lottery before an appreciative and very hungry crowd.
Unlike Bunuel (Nazarin, Viridiana) De Sica treatment of the poor is benign. They are a harmless and happy breed who sing a song that smacks of International as it asks for little. The capitalists are broadly caricatured in top hat and fur lined coats, the military humorously held off from overrunning the camp.
Evoking ET, the film closes with a bravura Deus Ex Machina that whitewashes the whole situation which depending upon your mood might make or break the picture. A provocatively light comedy dealing with poverty by way of pro religious and pro communist posturing.
An elderly woman finds a baby abandoned in her garden decides to raise him and calls him Toto. When she passes away he's sent to an orphanage and released as a teen full of idealism in a challenging world that does not feel the same way. He soon finds himself in a homeless camp where his enthusiasm becomes infectious and the inhabitants make an effort to spiff the place up. Big business buys the property however and Toto and the community are soon under siege. Attaining power by way of his angelic foster mother he then begins to grant wishes to the poor who soon turn greedy.
Miracle is filled with poignant moments such as the old woman's discovery of the baby and the funeral cortege followed by the child as the only mourner through a gloomy Milan, comically joined for a moment by a criminal on the run. The dirt poor poverty of the camp is also a scene of many comic moments with the dispossessed running for sunlight or a man consuming a chicken he won in the lottery before an appreciative and very hungry crowd.
Unlike Bunuel (Nazarin, Viridiana) De Sica treatment of the poor is benign. They are a harmless and happy breed who sing a song that smacks of International as it asks for little. The capitalists are broadly caricatured in top hat and fur lined coats, the military humorously held off from overrunning the camp.
Evoking ET, the film closes with a bravura Deus Ex Machina that whitewashes the whole situation which depending upon your mood might make or break the picture. A provocatively light comedy dealing with poverty by way of pro religious and pro communist posturing.