Like always in Mario Soldati's films, there as comprehensive polyphony of different characters that all play a major part, especially in the scenes where they all are together, like in the railstation café - the best scene in the film, but the character to keep watching here is the boy. His part is not very great, but it gradually grows in significance, particularly because of his increasing silence; but he is the crown in this actually very neo-realistic drama of post-fascism complications of a limitless harvest of dramatic destinies. There are some very upsetting scenes here, against which you will react heavily in outrageous protest, and you might even feel inclined to interrupt the film, but there is a reward in the end. Pietro Germi is another important actor here, and music plays a major part, mainly by the harmonica played by one of the migrants, and another major scene of precious dramaturgy is when he discovers the identity of the man they are dealing with while playing a sprightly and gay Napolitan tarantella. The music score is by Nino Rota, which of course also underscores much of the quality of the film. It's a rather neglected and much underrated contribution to the invaluable lot of Italian neo-realistic films, and there is even some timeless quality about this one, since there will always be political refugees, clandestine migrants and children getting caught in their troubles, getting hurt the most for nothing, but here at least two tragedies join to both be released.
Review of Fuga in Francia
