Children Are Watching Us (DVD)
APPROX. 84 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1944 - MPA RATING: NR
" De Sica filters all the events of the film through Pricò’s eyes, sometimes with startling effect.
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Like much of De Sica´s work (and virtually all Italian cinema this side of Antonioni), "The Children Are Watching Us" is marked by moments of extreme sentimentality, but if you view this as a melodrama rather than a "protoneorealist" film, the mawkishness is simply an expected element of the genre. The mix of sentimentality and the innocence of youth can often provide a sickly-sweet sugar shock, but Pricò is never played for the "poor widdle me" factor (not even when he cries), and his passive but constant vigilance renders him an unusually effective window character for the audience.
Video
The film is presented in its original 1.33:1 full-screen aspect ratio. The black-and-white photography is remarkably bright and sharp, but there is still some debris visible from the source material and a few ugly looking splices here and there. However, this digitally restored transfer is still top-notch as we have all come to expect from Criterion.
Audio
The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. Optional English subtitles support the Italian audio.
Extras
The disc is light on extras by Criterion´s usual standards. Two short interviews are included: a 2004 interview with Luciano de Ambrosis (8 min.), now in his sixties, who remembers what he can of his time on the film, and a 2004 interview with film critic Callisto Cosulich (9 min.) who mainly discusses the relationship between De Sica and Zavattini.
The insert booklet contains excellent essays by film critics Peter Brunette and Stuart Klawans. Many companies have discontinued the inclusion of inserts with DVDs which is a great idea for most flimsy offerings, but Criterion´s inserts continue to be a worthwhile source of added value, and the graphics are attractive as well.
Closing Thoughts
"The Children Are Watching Us" may not be a horror film, but Pricò is forced to face a child´s greatest nightmare: the break-up of his family. None of the privileges of wealth can make for the loss of stability and trust in his life, and most horrifying of all, he is forced to confront the grim realities of life many years before he should have to. Pricò isn´t just watching, he also understands what he´s seeing and that´s the real tragedy of the film.
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