La Strada
1954 · Movie · NR · 115 min · ★ 7.9 · 92% critics
A naive young woman is taken from her poor family to travel with a rough, itinerant strongman, helping him perform as they move from town to town. As she tries to make sense of hardship, loyalty, and dignity on the road, a new friendship opens her eyes to different possibilities and deepens the tension between them.
Also known as The Road
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Streaming on HBO Max.
2 hours to watch.
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Details
- Original title
- La strada
- Years
- 1954
- Release date
- 1954-09-23
- Language
- Italian
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 115 min
- Critic score
- 92/100
- TMDB rating
- 7.9/10 (1,165 votes)
About
You’ll likely connect with this if you want a heartfelt, downbeat road story about fragile hope amid harsh treatment, similar in spirit to Nights of Cabiria; Not for you if you avoid bleak, emotionally heavy dramas.
Pros: deeply moving character drama; memorable performances; poignant road journey | Cons: bleak themes; slow, methodical pacing; unsettling emotional cruelty
Themes
- prison
- dying and death
- rage and hate
- unsociability
- circus
- authority
- in love with enemy
- wave
- sadness
- road trip
- single
- revenge
- +1 more
Awards & recognition
- Academy Award — Best International Feature Film · 1957
- Academy Award — Best Writing, Original Screenplay · 1957 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best International Feature Film · 1957 · nominated
- International Submission to the Academy Awards · 1957 · nominated
Cast & crew
Giulietta Masina
as Gelsomina
Anthony Quinn
as Zampanò
Richard Basehart
as Il 'Matto'
Aldo Silvani
as Il Signor Giraffa
Marcella Rovere
as La Vedova
- LV
Livia Venturini
as La Suorina
Pietro Ceccarelli
as Innkeeper (uncredited)
- GG
Giovanna Galli
as Prostitute at the Inn (uncredited)
- GG
Gustavo Giorgi
as (uncredited)
- YK
Yami Kamadeva
as Prostitute (uncredited)
Directed by Federico Fellini