Stromboli (1950)

 Roberto Rossellini's "Stromboli"

Perhaps the most famous note taken from the result of Roberto Rossellini's 1950 film "Stromboli" is that it united him with his muse and future wife, Ingrid Bergman. The creation of the film was sprouted after Bergman wrote Rossellini a note saying that she would like to work with him. After the two of them set up a joint production company to start working on the film, they set up a production deal with RKO and its then owner, Howard Hughes. While working on the film, Rossellini and Bergman, who were both married to other people at the time, had an extramarital affair that would not only unite them as future spouses, but would cause much controversy globally.

The film itself centers on a young Lithuanian woman, Karin, who secured release from an internment camp in Italy by marrying an Italian ex-POW fisherman. He takes her to his home island of Stromboli, a volcanic island located between Italy and Sicily. She soon discovers that Stromboli is harsh and barren and its people are judgmental and conservative. Many of the island's inhabitant show hostility to her and this judgement causes her new husband to start treating her with disdain as well. Karin can't take being trapped on the island any longer and attempts to escape. However, after reaching the top of the volcano, she collapses and asks God for guidance.

The film has this suffocating feeling of entrapment. You feel it as soon as the film starts with Karin being displaced in Italy and trapped in an internment camp. The entire film, Karin is stuck in a location and situation that is brutal and unkind. She is constantly attempting to escape, but always to no avail. I felt a sense of intolerable suffocation from the film and by the end, a sense that there was nothing to do to escape these circumstances. Rather, there is a feeling of resentful resignation to it. It is rather uncomfortable, and that's why I really like the ending. For me, it almost feels like a typical thematic tone that Rossellini is able to pull off in his films. In this case, it is the feeling of being resigned to traumatic and unwanted circumstances with no escape, a feeling I'm sure plenty of Italians were feeling during and after the recent war.

The relationship between Rossellini and Bergman that spurred after the film's completion caused much controversy. Their relationship was extramarital and resulted in a child out of wedlock. This scandal caused a lot of conservative groups in the US, like church groups, women's clubs, and legislative representative to call for the film's ban. Colorado Senator Edward C. Johnson even called Ingrid Bergman, who had been a high-list celebrity in Hollywood at the time, "a powerful influence for evil." Bergman's reputation was shaken, as her career was stifled for a few years. She eventually regained popularity in the US half a decade later with her performance in 1956's "Anastasia."  

Many look back on "Stromboli" as the starting point for the professional and personal relationship between Bergman and Rossellini. It is also regarded as a great achievement in Italian cinema. At the time, the film was very popular in Italy and even won the Rome Prize for Cinema's best film of the year award. This hype did not translate over to the US, however, as many critics panned the film when it arrived on our soil. Many critics had problems with the film's lack of a strong story and its banality. However, of course, the film has gained much more recognition upon reappraisal. It is regarded as one of Rossellini's great films.