Revisiting the Portrayal of Abuse in La Strada
As Gelsomina (a hauntingly hilarious Giulietta Masina) ponders whether to leave her abusive partner, a kindhearted and nameless fool (Richard Basehart who is super witty even over a poor dubbing) explains to her that, if she were to leave, he would have no one. He ruminates over a pebble to explain that everything in the universe has a purpose. Gelsomina decides to stay with the brute Zampano (Anthony Quinn as a perfectly crafted macho Italian and soft giant). She sees herself as responsible for him. Hoping to change him and willing to go through pain to be with him.
You need to look at this film through a lens that emphasizes the time in which it was written. Today, we would like decry this narrative choice as being problematic and giving power to the abuser. I do not completely disagree with that and believe there are strong arguments why Gelsomina should have left. But this is not to say that Fellini is unaware of Zampano’s cruelty. Others around Gelsomina clearly thing she should abandon him. They are concerned for her wellbeing. When you consider this it becomes much more clear that Fellini chose to focus on the psychological reasons why those abused often opt to stay with the person abusing them. They feel they can change that person. Gelsomina Turkey beloved she can make him better. It is her purpose in the universe to do so.
But ultimately her sorrow leads to her downfall (after a brief time jump) and e endings instead focuses on aged Zampano, still doing the same measly trick he has done for decades. His life has no purpose beyond it and the weight of that, and all his cruelty, has finally caught up to him. Gelsomina’s purpose led to her not even being around to witness the fruits of her long and arduous labor.
La Strada is about how we sacrifice ourselves for things we should have escaped long ago. That’s not our fault, it’s the ways in which our society train us to behave. To be weak and kindhearted if you are a woman and cruel and cowardly if you’re a man. Fellini is not ignoring abuse but putting as s on exactly what’s wrong with the ways we behave towards one another. It is to say that we should not just sit idly by as we are beaten down and that, like Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and their contemporaries long argued, trying to live toward an ill defined purpose is a fool’s errand.
