Sophia Loren shines in this Italian movie where she's the type of woman other women hate, simply because she can dance the mambo around the floor and get any man to dance with her. She has heat even when it's freezing, and as a result, she is forced to move from her town when she has a baby out of wedlock with a man she sent to prison. In her new town, she's a bit more liked, working in the waters cutting out reeds. When it is revealed to her that the man she sent to prison has escaped, it's only a matter of time before he catches up to her, and there's a bit of tragedy along the way involving her son. Along the way, the passion she had turns to grief, but of course, not everything is as It seems.
Beautifully filmed in color, this shows Sophia at her best although the print I saw was dubbed and it was obviously not her voice. However, there's no mistaking Sophia's talent even in just acting out a role without hearing her in her native tongue. The film is gritty and often tough to watch because it shows the hard-working people barely able to make ends meet while corruption works around them. However, the children do bring them joy, playing a game of hide-and-seek, and there are minutes when lamenting over what one does not have is replaced by the joy of the passion of life that they do. The Mambo dance sequence at the beginning is unforgettable.
Beautifully filmed in color, this shows Sophia at her best although the print I saw was dubbed and it was obviously not her voice. However, there's no mistaking Sophia's talent even in just acting out a role without hearing her in her native tongue. The film is gritty and often tough to watch because it shows the hard-working people barely able to make ends meet while corruption works around them. However, the children do bring them joy, playing a game of hide-and-seek, and there are minutes when lamenting over what one does not have is replaced by the joy of the passion of life that they do. The Mambo dance sequence at the beginning is unforgettable.