Friday, June 19, 2009
WHEN THE TOUGH GET GOING
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Roberto Rossellini's
Il Generale Della Rovere / General Della Rovere (1959)
with Vittorio De Sica as the general.
A con man and actor gets caught by the Nazis and is put in the role of a famous Italian general who was overzealously slain when discovered returning to the country to run the underground resistance.
By pretending to be the general, the con man becomes a leader and more.
He discovers Della Rovere's motto: "When you don't know which path to take, choose the hardest one."
I have found this to be true in life when I look back at my choices. The easy ones didn't lead to much.
The film is very good. The time flew. De Sica is wonderful. The Nazis are just sympathetic enough to carry us along with sort of hoping the plot works. In fact the viewer is asked to take the hardest path.
I liked it a lot and wouldn't mind seeing it again.
That would make it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
