La Terra Trema (The Earth Trembles)

Starring:Giuseppe Arcidiacono, Nicola Castorino, Rosa Catalano, Rosa Costanzo, Rosario Galvagno, Agnese Giammona, Nelluccia Giammona, Ignazio Maccarone, Antonino Micale, Maria Micale, Pasquale Pellegrino, Alfio Valastro, Antonino Valastro, Lorenzo Valastro, Raimondo Valastro, Santo Valastro, Sebastiano Valastro, Giuseppe Vicari, Salvatore Vicari
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Description

The second haunting film from director Luchino Visconti presents a wrenching study of a family struggling to find happiness against the backdrop of Sicily's fishing community. Real Sicilian locals played all of the villagers, whose lives undergo dramatic changes when they plot to overthrow the wholesalers depriving them of a decent living. Against the odds, they still enjoy love, laughter, and friendship within their community. Experience the drama and visual poetry of this international classic, now presented in its complete European cut.

Customer Reviews:

The intimacy of the hopeless!.......2006-06-02

Luchino Visconti, was a true poet of the image. An admirable creator of atmospheres a fundamental filmmaker who hardly accepts a special category. His magnificent employment of the camera, the mesmerizing scripts signed a successful and prominent trajectory.

La Terra Trema is a powerful portrait of a small village of fishermen, where the hopeless and the oppressive reality surrounds every single frame. At the moment you elaborate a list about primordial films of the Italian Neo Realism, this movie must necessarily included.

You will be a silent witness of a crowd of people who will face all sort of adversities; a bitter metaphor of that isolated micro cosmos of the Post War Italia, with its sorrows, afflictions and little rejoicings.

Expressive, incisive and unforgettable movie. A giant among the classics

La Terra Trema.......2005-09-07

Through Visconti's unsparing lens, we witness the daily repetition of back-breaking labor and ongoing pain of injustice the fishermen face. All this is seen and felt amidst images of stark, breathtaking beauty. Featuring a brilliant use of non-actors, whose weathered faces each tell the same hard story, this fascinating, rewarding film has the impact of a documentary - and the unmistakable feel of truth.

Not quite Criterion quality but the film is a masterpiece.......2004-11-18

Visconti's 'La Terra Trema' is about as detailed account of a fishing village you may ever watch (about 3 hours long) - but the rewards of this film are endless. Visconti has a unique flair for developing characters that the audience gradually comes to care about ('Death in Venice' is a prime example). This film here is neo-realist in every sense of the term - and also an interesting look at some of Viscont's Marxist - and yet skeptical of Marxism - views. He is probably the only wealthy Count in the world ever capable of such feeling towards the poor - the film in a way forshadows Pasolini's brilliant 'Accatone' - which also focused on the lower end of society. This is a fully rewarding dose of Visconti - highly recommended!

What We Need are Tax Cuts for the Fishermen.......2004-06-28

I had read about this movie because it comes up on an occassional "All Time Greatest Movie" lists. As such, I was aware of the fact that the movie was made with a complete cast of amateurs taken from a Sicilian fishing village which was also the location of the movie. The opening credits substantiate that by not naming the actors but, rather, citing them as the people of the village. They do a very good, sometimes excellent, job. There might not be an Academy Award-level preformance in the bunch but they out-shine the cast of most "B" movies I've seen. In fact, only the person who plays Mara's boy friend, the mason, give anything like a one-dimensional preformance and it is mostly noticeable by how it stands apart from the others.

The story is that of a struggle against the powers that be; sometimes the powers are people, sometimes it is nature. The focus is on one family who tries to overcome their poverty by buying their own boat and becoming their own boss. The instigator is the son, Ntonio, who has been in the army and seen the outside world. He is ready to level the playing field and, at first, the family succeeds. However, the writer/director Visconti does not intend to give us a quick happy ending. Misfortune strikes and we see success turn to failure. The movie becomes a sort of Marxist message that only when everyone works collectively for the common good can we all succeed. However, I did not feel that this message was overbearing to the viewer who is not inclined to buy into that philosophy. There is much in the movie that could even substantiate Capitalism. Look, for example, how Ntonio and his family succeed when they save up their money, mortgage their house and go into business for themselves. The writer/director's point might be that their own greed led them to failure but it could easily be just a twist of fate that kept them from rising to the top. This example of individual initiative is a powerful part of the story. Nonetheless, it is the depths of the descent that comes after success that takes us through the film.

I rated this film a "5 star" because of its' cinematic achievement. Visconti worked something short of a miracle on a shoestring in putting this film together. On the negative side, the movie is too long (Visconti appartently had to "cut" it to 160 minutes). In addition the politics is too one-sided. I don't profess to know how things were in a post-war fishing village in Sicily. I presume that much of the scenarios presented are close to the reality of the time and place. However, nothing succeeds like a good example and the idea that no one would attempt to duplicate the family's idea struck me more as a comment on the fishermen than a comment on the system. Still, the interpersonal relationships and the life in the village are brought to the screen in such an excellent way that I'll let the politics be.

Visconti Goes Fishing.......2003-09-16

I've searched a very long time to see this movie. I've noticed that all of Luchino Visconti's films are extremely hard to obtain. Now that I have finally seen this movie I have seen everything that is available on vhs or dvd by the great Visconti.

"La Terra Trema" reminds me heavily of a film Visconti would make later entitled "Rocco & His Brothers". Both films deal with poor Sicilan families trying to make a living. Each family facing the injustice of the upper class vs the lower class. But between the two I must admit I prefer "Rocco..ect". Because it seems to be more about plot. "Rocco" has more of a story to tell. And it's three lead characters make the the movie. "La Terra Trema" is a little short on plot. And the film goes on way too long. The movie is over 2 hours.

"La Terra Trema" is about the local fishing community. About the hardships the fisherman face when trying to sell their fish to the merchants. The merchants it is felt are cheating the fisherman out of decent pay. The begining moments of the film work quite well. But the plot cann't sustain the entire lenght of the plot. If this movie had been cut down to at least let's say 1 hour and 45 minutes this could of truly been an unforgettable Visconti masterpiece. As the film is now it's an enjoyable over-long Visconti epic and has choice acting moments,by non actors, & beautiful cinematography.

Luchino Visconti is one of my all-time favorite film-makers. He had an unmatched talent for details. He has given us so many entertaining films such as "Ludwig", to me his masterpiece. Also "Rocco & His Brothers", "The Damned", & "The Innocent", his final film. "La Terra Trema" belongs high up on Visconti's list of films. If anything just for the acting. *** 1\2 out of *****

Product Description

Restaured and remastered version. This DVD DOES NOT have English audio or subtitles!!!!!

Customer Reviews:

A panoramic study of man and earth..........2007-01-07

A Marxist aristocrat, Count Don Luchino Visconti Di Morone was widely praised for both the realism and vaguely politicized tone of his early films, and the operatic sumptuousness of his later historical costume dramas... Throughout his career, however, style dominated content; all too often, the result was camp, decorative melodrama disguised as solemn, socially significant art...

"La Terra Trema," an epic account of the hardship suffered by Sicilian fishermen, was even closer to Neo-realism, shot on location with a cast of nonprofessional actors living their lives on screen... Its somewhat simplistic Marxist message, that the peasants' real enemy was not Nature but exploitive businessmen, was in fact less indicative of Visconti's future and its use of a disintegrating family to mirror the social climate of Italy as a whole...

The conflicts, misery, poverty, joy, and anger in a fishing village are shown in a panoramic study of man and earth...

'The Earth will Tremble' is not political nor intends to teach... The film reveals... it doesn't judge...

The cinematography is outstanding, particularly the scenes with the fishermen at sea...

La Terra Trema [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

La Terra Trema [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]
Director: Luchino Visconti
Manufacturer: Umbrella Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000A3YIZU

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: o English (subtitles) o Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0) Synopsis: Luchino Visconti's pseudo-documentary look at the exploitation of Sicilian fishermen was based on Verga's 1881 novel I Malavoglia. The townspeople of Aci Trezza, Sicily, portrayed themselves, speaking in their native dialects and fretting about economic hardship for over 160 minutes of screen time. As nobly Neo-Realist as such an endeavor must have seemed, it died at the box-office upon initial release, leading Visconti to add narration in standard Italian. The truth is that the film wasn't all that realistic to begin with, as Visconti's unshakable attachment to cinematic artifice led him to pretty up the dreary goings-on with camera virtuosity which seems completely misplaced given the events onscreen. More grueling than illuminating, this film was the first of a proposed trilogy (the remaining films were to deal with Sicilian peasants and miners) which Visconti mercifully never got around to making. Special Features: o Biographies o Interactive Menu

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