La Terra Trema (1948) was just the second film of director Luchino Visconti, who went on to a distinguished career. Some of his most noteworthy later films include Senso (1954), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), The Leopard (1963), The Stranger (1967), and Death in Venice (1971). Like many of the great Italian directors, he started out as a Neo-realist and ended up making epic historical dramas. Visconti’s career was effectively interrupted by World War II causing a full six years to elapse between his debut film, Ossessione (1942), and La Terra Trema.

It is particularly timely to review La Terra Trema presently, with the recent release of Michael Moore’s political documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and the widespread discussion of what the nature of a documentary is and should be, when a film qualifies as propaganda, and whether propagandistic films can also have artistic merit.

Historical Background: Although Visconti came from a wealthy background, he was a lifelong member of the Italian Communist Party. Some of his works, this one in particular, were expressly designed to promote his sociopolitical views. Although La Terra Trema is not classified as a documentary film per se, one of the hallmark characteristics of Italian Neo-realism was a documentary-like style. La Terra Trema is more fully true to the precepts of Neo-realism than most films included under that heading – certainly more than the first two great films of De Sica, Shoeshine (1947) and The Bicycle Thief (1949). Perhaps only the Rossellini films, Open City (1945) and Paisan (1946), which gave rise to Neo-realism were comparably Neo-realistic with La Terra Trema. Although La Terra Trema has a plotline that is fictional, it uses a documentary-like voiceover narrative throughout, was filmed in the actual locale where the story takes place, used only natural lighting, and used only amateur actors recruited from the village where the film was made. The result might be justly referred to as a quasi-documentary. Like other films utilizing the techniques of Neo-realism, La Terra Trema is focused narrowly on sociopolitical issues affecting and afflicting the lower class.

Vicsonti cut his Neo-realistic teeth (to strain a phrase) not with older Italian Neo-realists but as an assistant for the great French master of realism, Jean Renoir. Renoir’s realism, however, dealt with political and social issues subtly through comedy and drama, while the Italian Neo-realists were blunt in their pointed social criticism to the point of sometimes crossing the line into propaganda.

The Story: This film follows the travails of the Valastro family, who live in a remote Sicilian village named Acitrezza. The family consists of the mother, two young adult sons, ‘Ntoni (Antonio Arcidiacono) and Cola, an adult daughter Mara, a daughter in her late teens, Lucia, the paternal grandfather, and several younger children. The Valastros have been fishermen in Acitrezza for many generations. ‘Ntoni has gained a bit of worldly experience serving in the Italian Navy. He has seen many ports around the world.

The lot of the villagers is bleak indeed. The men go out in the fishing boats at dusk each evening, work hard all night, return exhausted, and receive only a pittance for their catch from the greedy fish merchants. The fish merchants conspire to keep prices as low as possible. The men can make barely enough to feed their family and keep their nets in good repair. Most of the men accept their sorry plight because it is the way that things have been in the village for generations. ‘Ntoni, however, is full of spunk and zeal. He feels strongly that the merchants exploit the poor fishermen and rake in obscene profits at the fishermen’s expense.

‘Ntoni’s first notion is for the younger men to bargain with the fish merchants instead of the elders of each boat, which has been the traditional practice. The younger men take a more aggressive posture with the buyers, but to no avail. It simply culminates in an outbreak of violence. The merchants' scales are seized and tossed into the ocean and fisticuffs ensue. The riot has to be broken up by the police. ‘Ntoni and some others are thrown in jail. Soon, however, charges are dropped and they are released because without the fishermen, the merchants are out of business as well. ‘Ntoni is emboldened by his recognition that the fishermen are critical for the survival of the industry.

‘Ntoni, who is de facto leader of his family (his father having died at sea and his grandfather being quite elderly), wins the family’s consent to a bold plan. They will mortgage the family house, which is the only asset they have. They’ll use the money to purchase a boat of their own and will process their catch themselves. The first night out in their new boat, they haul in a large quantity of anchovies, which they can salt and sell in the winter for a high price. The Valastro family is momentarily the envy of the village. They appear to be on their way to success and wealth.

Soon, however, mother nature deals a terrible blow to the family fortunes. Their boat is badly damaged in a storm, though the family members all return alive. The mast has been lost and one side of the boat split open. They do not have enough money to pay for the caulking and are effectively out of business. ‘Ntoni and Cola are now denied work by the spiteful boat owners. The family has to sell the anchovies dirt cheap and sell their best clothes, just to eat. The ultimate blow comes when the bank forecloses on their mortgage and they are evicted. “Every wind is bad for a sinking ship.”

In a village such as Acitrezza, marriages are based in large measure on the social standing of one’s family. Sons and daughters of common fishermen and laborers don’t marry children of property owners; children of mere property owners don’t marry the children of businessmen. Therefore, the decline in the family’s fortunes also wreck the marital hopes of all of the single young adults of the family. ‘Ntony had cast his eye on Nedda and his chances had looked good after the purchase of the boat, but now she will have nothing to do with him. Eldest daughter Mara had intriguing prospects with a construction worker, Nicola, but, ironically, she was too far above his status while her family was prospering and is now too far below for a match. Lucia, in her vanity and naivety, allows herself to be seduced out of wedlock by the police sergeant, Don Salvatore. With her reputation thus ruined, her prospects are dissipated as well.

Cola, despairing of his prospects in Acitrezza, runs off to join a band of smugglers. Ultimately, ‘Ntoni, beaten done, has to beg with his hat in hand to be taken back by the merchants and placed on one of their crews. Fortunately, they have just Christened several new boats and are in need of hands. They mock him mercilessly for his “foolish” attempt to break with them and establish himself independently.

Themes: Visconti’s intended theme is quite obvious, since he hammers at it relentlessly throughout the film: the exploitation of the working class by capitalists, in this case the fish processors. From beginning to end, the film focuses on the poverty of the fishermen, how the processors conspire to keep prices low, and how the fishermen slave and risk their lives with no hope of ever getting ahead. They’re fortunate, in fact, if they can even make enough to feed their families. They’re fortunate, as well, if they even come home from sea when the weather turns bad. The fish buyers are presented as vicious, ready to strike down any fisherman who stands up to their Judas ways, and ready to mock and humiliate workers who defy them.

As propaganda, La Terra Trema fails miserably for two basic reasons. First, it is cloyingly heavy-handed to an extent that makes one rebel against its message. I believe that I am about as sympathetic as any person in our society to revelations about exploitation of the working poor by the aristocracy, capitalists, authorities, bosses, or others in positions of power. Here, however, the exploitation is presented in such a mawkish way that it loses all credibility. While the visual elements of the film may be “realistic” in style, the story is hopelessly banal and maudlin. Propaganda doesn’t work when it is so overdone that it becomes satire of its own claims.

Secondly, it seems obvious, from this film, that Visconti had no understanding of economics at all. As a result, he has unwittingly made exactly the opposite case from what he intended. It is certainly understandable and commendable that ‘Ntoni would be dissatisfied with the extremely poor income that he and his siblings and grandfather are able to earn for all of their very difficult and risky work. ‘Ntoni’s circumstances become tragic, however, not while he remains a worker but when he, instead, breaks ranks with the workers to strike out on his own as a capitalist. He mortgages the family home to raise capital so that his family can go into the business of processing the fish that they catch. He is setting himself and his family up as a rival processing outfit. One could imagine, had they succeeded, a day might come when his family might have become so efficient at processing that they might begin to process the fish of some of their neighbors. ‘Ntoni’s family might give up going out in the boats and go into the processing business fulltime. That is how businesses typically start in a capitalist society. Chances are, had ‘Ntoni’s family reached that stage, they would have bargained for as low a price for their neighbors fish as the current processors do for theirs. ‘Ntoni used his capital to purchase a boat of their own so his family could be independent of the existing processors. He thereby assumed capital risk. He didn’t make allowances for protecting that risk by either keeping enough in reserve to pay for boat repairs or avoiding foul weather. Like many small businesses, his failed because of poor management – poor business skills. Thus, in the end, La Terra Trema more ably reveals the risks borne by capitalists rather than the troubles of workers. It is precisely because of those risks, that the processors have to bargain for as much profit margin as they can. Sooner or later, they will need some of those profits for boat repairs after a fleet is caught in difficult seas. I’m not dismissing the fact that exploitation of workers occurs. I’m simply commenting that Visconti’s film actually better depicts why capitalists are entitled to profits (they’ve put their capital at risk) than why they should accept less profit (so as to provide workers with a decent living). It’s tougher to make an effective propaganda film than viewers sometimes realize. La Terra Trema is a beautifully filmed movie but a complete bust as propaganda.

At the simple narrative level, there is perhaps a second theme in this film relating to the conflict between determination to overcome obstacles and the sometimes inhumane intractability of those obstacles. This theme is captured in a piece of dialogue that is repeated twice in the film, “‘I’ll bore a hole through you yet,’ said the worm to the stone.” One can’t help but to admire the worm’s determination but most of us would probably put our money on the stone.

Production Values: To say that this movie is beautifully filmed is really a gross understatement. The realism is exceptional – this is after all the actual fishing village and the actual residents. In fact, none of my usual sources (the film case, IMDB, reviews, etc.) even list the names of the cast members, other than the two narrators and ‘Ntoni. One of the narrators was Visconti himself. Arcidiacono, who played ‘Ntoni, has no other film credits that I could identify. The shot composition is consistently excellent. The camera work features deep focus, medium and long shots, still shots and graceful pans, and a gorgeous natural environment. We see crashing waves, old stone houses and walls, a fleet of boats silhouetted against a setting sun, and so forth. Lighting and sound effects are all exclusively natural, other than the voiceover narrative.

The only reasons to see this movie are, first, the beauty of the cinematography and, second, as a lesson in the history of realism in film. Beyond those two significant pluses, the film has very little to offer. The story would be bleak and depressing were it not so utterly manipulative and overdone as to be ridiculous. The merchants are presented as so cynically evil as to be laughable. Worse, the film is excruciatingly slow-paced and drawn out. Each propaganda point in beat into the ground and the narration is largely redundant with what’s visibly evident. I had to divide my watching of the film into two segments and even then found myself checking the VCR’s timer repeatedly. I have no complaints about the performances of the amateur cast. They make up in realism what they lack in acting experience. The problems are in the script.

Bottom-Line: La Terra Trema was not successful on its initial release in Italy. In point of fact, it was more like a total flop. It was saved from the waste can of history only because of an award from and the high regard of film critics over the subsequent years. La Terra Terma was originally planned as the first segment of a trilogy, but the other two parts never got made. It still, however, bears the subtitle “Episode of the Sea.” The DVD version comes with twenty-two chapter breaks and optional subtitles but no extras. This film is in Italian and Sicilian with English subtitles.

Recommended:
No

Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older