‘Stromboli‘ (1950) is a movie shrouded in a legend that sometimes seems to overshadow the film itself. Its story begins with a letter that Ingrid Bergman, one of the great Hollywood stars of the 1940s, sent to the Italian director Roberto Rossellini, the author of some of the most remarkable films of the Italian neo-realist movement in the years after the Second World War . “If you need a Swedish actress who speaks very good English … I’m ready to come and make a film with you.” Rossellini didn’t hesitate too much, he took the script written for his girlfriend at the time, also famous – Ana Magnani -, and rewrote it for Ingrid Bergman (Magnani would get the main role in William Diterle’s ‘Volcano’ instead). Filming began and with it the love story between the famous director and the famous actress began as well, a relationship that would last for about five years and from which five feature films and three children, including Isabella Rossellini, were born. The film would be released in the United States in 1950 in a version shortened at the initiative of the producers and distributors. Because of the cuts but also, or above all, because of the boycott calls of the conservative circles, outraged at the news that the actress had become pregnant from the relationship that was for both lovers outside of marriage, the film did not enjoy public attention and success. We, the contemporary viewers, see the original version (the director’s cut as it is called today). I’ve seen it again and can say that the film stands very well on its own among Rossellini‘s significant creations, close to the peaks of his career.
The story is simple, but the situation is interesting and meaningful. ‘Stromboli‘ is in fact one of the few films that addresses, very close to the events, the situation of the millions of refugees in Europe immediately after the Second World War. Until today, these stories, these human tragedies, are very little mentioned in memoirs, in literature, in films and even in history books. Karen, the heroine of the film, is a Lithuanian refugee whom the storms of war brought to Italy. During the Nazi occupation of her country she had fallen in love and married a German soldier, an architect by profession. He had taken her with him to Czechoslovakia, but had been killed there. She cannot return to her country, now occupied by the Soviet Union. She would have been tried and convicted for ‘collaboration’ and sent to the Gulag. She lands in Italy in a camp populated by refugees and former Italian military prisoners, hoping to be able to go on to Argentina, but is denied a visa. To save her life, she marries Antonio, an Italian prisoner, handsome and nice at first sight, but a simple man, who seduces her with stories about the idyllic island in the Mediterranean where he has his home. Arriving on the island of Stromboli, she discovers a very different reality: an arid island, on the way to de-population because most of the inhabitants emigrate where they can in search of a better life. Those who remain are poor and conservative people, who see in the immigrant brought by Alfonso as a wife a foreigner with provocative clothes and easy morals. Alfonso himself turns out to be just a poor fisherman, unable to make Karen happy in any way, and moreover willing to coerce her into the life of submissive wife and use violence when she tries to resist. Determined to escape at any cost from the trap she has entered, Karen resorts to the only weapon left at her disposal. She tries to work her charms on the men who might help her escape the island – the local priest and the lighthouse keeper. All these events are dominated by the haunting silhouette of the Stromboli, an active volcano that wakes up to life, or rather wakes up to death once every few years.
This romantic and tragic story could have been told in many ways. Rossellini chooses to use the tools of Italian neo-realism combining social melodrama with a careful and deep look at the background against which the action takes place. Some scenes are anthological and they remain in the memory of those who have seen this film at least once: that of the kiss between the lovers separated by the barbed wire or the tuna fishing. The figure present on the screen most of the time is that of Karen, played by Ingrid Bergman. Knowing the story surrounding the film, we can speculate that the camera seems to be in love with the actress who was at the peak of her beauty and artistic maturity. The acting style seems a bit overdramatic today, especially in the final scene, but Ingrid Bergman was the perfect actress for such roles. It’s a much more complex role than it appears on the surface. Until the dramatic ending and after watching I don’t know if it’s a positive role or a negative one. Rossellini refused to judge his character and apply moralizing labels. The emotions of the lonely woman with a destiny crushed by history, however, pass the screen very well, and the inner light of Ingrid Bergman is present here, as always. Most of the other roles are played by non-professional actors, which lends authenticity to the atmosphere. The music created by Renzo Rossellini, the director’s brother, envelops and dominates. Viewing ‘Stromboli‘ is a cinematic experience not to be missed.