Miracle in Milan (Miracolo A Milan)

Directed by Vittorio de Sica
Cast: Emma Gramatica, Francesco Golisano, Paolo Stoppa, Guglielmo Barnabò
1951

This fantasy tale tells of Totò, who is found in a cabbage patch and adopted by an old women named Lolotta. He later moves to an orphanage because Lolotta passes away.

The film moves forward to when he's eighteen years of age and Totò (Francesco Golisano) leaves the orphanage and begins to live in a shantytown in Milan.

Totò's organizational skills, learned at the orphanage and from Lolotta, brings structure to the colony and brings a sense of small happiness and well being among the depressed folk.

When Totò is given a magic dove by the ghost of his adoptive mother, he uses its powers to grant wishes to those who ask. The dove, however, is taken back by two angels who object to a mortal having possession of it.

The land where Totò's and his friends live is taken over by capitalists after oil is found there and they're all taken away to prison in horse-drawn paddy wagons. On the way to prison, however, a dove is returned to Totò and his wish for the freedom of his friends is granted. In a historical cinematic scene they escape into the sky, arguably to heaven, on brooms pinched from street sweepers in a town square.

Awards:

1951 Cannes Film Festival: Grand Prize of the Festival, Vittorio De Sica;
1951 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Silver Ribbon; Best Production Design, Guido Fiorini
1951 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award; Best Foreign Language Film, Italy;
1951 National Board of Review: National Board of Review Awards 1951, Best Foreign Films

The Idiot (Hakuchi)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
1951
Starring Setsuko Hara, Yoshiko Kuga, Toshirō Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura

The Idiot was a cherished project on which it is claimed Akira Kurosawa expended more effort than on any other film. A darkly ambitious exploration of the depths of human emotion, it combines the talents of two of the greatest Japanese actors of their generation — Toshiro Mifune (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo) and Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring). The Idiot is perhaps the most contemplative of all Kurosawa's works, a tone which is heightened by the unusual, trance-like performances.

“Of all my films, people wrote to me most about this one… …I had wanted to make The Idiot long before Rashomon. Since I was little I’ve liked Russian literature, but I find that I like Dostoevsky the best and had long thought that this book would make a wonderful film. He is still my favourite author, and he is the one — I still think — who writes most honestly about human existence.” – Akira Kurosawa