Il Grido is a 1957 film by Michelangelo Antonioni. Its English name is The Cry. This movie is uncharacteristic for him in that here he follows the path of a disaffected blue-collar worker. Aldo, the protagonist, discovers that his lover of many years has no intention of marrying him after her husband dies. He beats her and their relationship is broken. Aldo with their common daughter leaves Goriano and sets out in search of the better lot. On his way he meets several women.
Il Grido won the Golden Leopard, a top award on the Locarno International Film Festival of the same year.
Tropes:
- AntiHero: Aldo. While he doesn't qualify for a villain his actions don't make him a clear hero.
- Bookends: Film begins and ends in Goriano, a small town. Inbetween the hero wanders through the Po valley.
- Capitalism Is Bad: Subverted. The government is going to replace a sugar refinery by an aerodrome leading to the discontent of the local citizens resulting in strike.
- The Casanova: Aldo sleeps with several woman he meets however his romances are usually rather joyless.
- Crapsack World: In this film Antonioni shifts his attention to the poorer classes. The sugar refinery, a source of the income for the locals in Goriano, the town where Aldo lives, is going to be closed to make place for the aerodrome.
- Despair Event Horizon: Aldo crosses it only at the end even though events take bad turn for him repeatedly throughout the film.
- Driven to Suicide: Aldo.
- Downer Ending: Aldo throws himself off the tower.
- It's Not You, It's Me: Irma says to Aldo asking him to stop their relationship that it is her fault that she wants to quit.
- Large Ham: The protagonist is arguably that.
- Leave the Camera Running: Here Antonioni revels in contemplating Po valley landscapes.
- One-Word Title
- Scenery Porn: In this particular case the valley of Po which looks rather gloomy but still impressive.
- The Scream: The titular cry is let out by Irma when Aldo commits suicide or incidentally falls off the refinery tower.
- The Tower: Refinery tower. Aldo used to work there. In the end he falls off it.
- Untranslated Title
- Walking the Earth: Aldo wanders around in the valley of Po.
- Working-Class Hero: In this film Aldo is closer to the Anti-Hero.
