Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86893 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-01-14
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
Despite its focus on the destruction of a proud man who loses his livelihood, The Wide Blue Road is a gorgeous, lyrical film refusing to be boxed in by writer-director Gillo Pontecorvo's bathetic class sympathies. Yves Montand plays Sqarciò, a fisherman on a small island off Italy's Dalmation coast. With the fishing industry squeezed by a wholesaler's monopoly, the island is beset by economic depression and strains between men who earn little by fishing legally (using a net) and those--like Squarciò--who unlawfully use dynamite. Once Squarciò is deprived of his bombs, his (and his family's) decline is a foregone conclusion in Pontecorvo's fixed-destiny universe. Yet the director is hardly blind to his setting's redemptive possibilities. The Adriatic island's clarifying air, the dreamy, epic texture of the apposition of land and sea--such elemental beauty mysteriously, simultaneously heightens and ameliorates Squarciò's predictable doom. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

The Wide Blue Road
Best known for the recently restored "Battle of Algiers", "Road", director Pontecorvo's first feature, remains a stunning achievement. In this lyrical depiction of life's ambiguities, we feel no contempt for Montand's character, though he goes against the greater good by breaking the law: We simply see a man trapped in humble circumstances who breaks the rules to create a better life for his family. "The Wide Blue Road" is made indelible by its rich color cinematography and a nuanced, charismatic performance by Montand, one of the finest of his career.

Movie not to be missed.
This is a great movie. Beautiful views of the Italian sea and coast. Great acting by Yves Montand and others. A moving story of struggle and solidarity among poor fisherman. An inspiring message about the possibilities of the downtrodden coming together and making a difference in their lives. This is a great political movie that succeeds in moving and informing us without slipping into didactic preaching.