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Jun 29, 2005

Stromboli

Ingrid Bergman is one of my favorite actresses from the yesteryear. Directed by Roberto Rossellini, a great director of neorealist cinema, the then-paramour of Bergman and the father of her illegitimate child(later he married her), this film was overlooked and thrashed by the critics not for its lack of quality but because of the illicit affair between the director and the lead actress. The affair almost ended Bergman's career in Hollywood, before she resurfaced six years later with a major hit.

Back to Stromboli, the title is the name of one of the most active volcanoes on earth, situated on one of the Aeolian Islands of Italy. I think the film was made there as well. It is the story of a young woman(played by Bergman), a foreigner and a war refugee who gets married to an Italian man and sets up home at his village in Stromboli.The clash of cultures is apparent from the start, the villagers don't like the new bride and she, in turn despises the claustrophobic nature of the island community.

A natural film, probably because it was originally made in italian and not exactly tailormade for Hollywood, Stromboli is a cultural and cinematic education for the viewer.

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