——Umberto D.——

(A)

Quite possibly one of the saddest movies ever made. And also one of the best. I never cry watching a movie, but I was almost in tears when Umberto’s dog Flike refused to come to him at the end of the movie after becoming frightened by the train Umberto tried to throw himself under. I usually groan when a dog is in a sentimental movie, but this has to be the only film in memory where the dog actually adds to the story, rather than detracts from it. Umberto as an old pensioned man has nothing to live for. The post World War II economic boom has left him behind. Society pretty much says it doesn’t want him anymore. He doesn’t want to live in this society anymore. And yet there is the dog…

Flike is the one thing that matters in this old man’s life. He’s got no other responsibilities, no way of supporting himself, and the world wants him to leave. But this dog depends on him and Umberto can’t stand to see the dog not live a full and healthy life. Unfortunately he has no way to provide for the dog, even after he dies. Thus he is stuck between a rock and a hard place, unable to go on living after his cruel landlady kicks him out, and unable to die for fear of what might happen to Flike. Flike becomes the symbol of this poor man’s crushed humanity, and makes the story of Umberto D. that much more poignant.