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    Italian poster of the movie Bitter Rice
    Riso amaro
    Italy
    1949     Drama    
    1h 48min
    Original language: Italian
    PG

    One of Italian neorealism's biggest box-office successes, the racy Bitter Rice injected a major dose of eroticism into the movement's socially-committed concerns, and made an international pin-up of its voluptuous young star Silvana Mangano, prototype of the Italian cinema sexpot. The second directorial effort of critic and screenwriter Giuseppe De Santis, one of neorealism's key figures, the film was ostensibly intended as an exposé of exploitative working conditions in rice paddies of Italy's Po Valley. Mangano, provocatively clad in the tightest of sweaters and the skimpiest of short-shorts, plays farm worker Silvana, labouring up to her knees in mud while her head is in the clouds, dreaming of American-style glamour. The lurid plot has her becoming involved with a violent criminal (Vittorio Gassman) and his moll on the run from jewellery heist. Full of flamboyant camerawork and other stylistic extravagances "including a famous boogie-woogie dance between Mangano and Gassman in a train station" Bitter Rice was described by one critic as a "neorealist colossal" for its large budget and elaborate production schedule. De Santis was both criticized for debasing neorealism and praised for reinventing it with popular elements.

    Directed byGiuseppe De Santis
    Written byCorrado Alvaro, Giuseppe De Santis
    CompanyLux Film Distributing CorporationLux Film Distributing CorporationLux Film Distributing Corporation

    Starring

    Vittorio Gassman
    Doris Dowling
    Silvana Mangano
    Raf Vallone
    Checco Rissone
    Nico Pepe
    Adriana Sivieri
    Lia Corelli
    Maria Grazia Francia
    Dedi Ristori
    + MORE

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