User Reviews

Aldo Fabrizi, four years after making a worldwide impression as an actor with Open City, directed this unusual documentary style drama about Italians who leave their troubled country after WWII for the promise of fresh opportunities in South America. The Argentine production was unusual for Fabrizi as he preferred during most of his career to stick to his beloved Rome rather than seek work abroad. Apparently the government of Juan Peron was encouraging immigrants with financial support during this period, somewhat like Mussolini in Italy had done in the mid 1930s with his "Venite, stranieri" policy. The best parts of the film which was reportedly partly improvised are the scenes showing the married couple and their daughter leaving their apartment and driving through ancient ruins in Rome; the convincing detail of the bureaucratic processing of the immigrants; the footage on the boat including a baby being born, Mass being celebrated and a baptism. As Variety noted at the time, the later scenes in Argentina are less effective and the style is sometimes crude and heavy handed. Fabrizi's wife is played by the boisterous character actress Ave Ninchi and they squabble throughout the film, at one point having an argument about why they are having an argument! The performers would team up again as the couple in two comedies about the Passaguai family in which they would squabble once again.