Shoeshine

Aroview: Perhaps Vittorio De Sica's first acknowledged masterpiece, concerns two young boys struggling to survive on the streets of post-WWII Rome by shining the shoes of American GIs and dabbling in petty crime.

Events which spiral inevitably into tragedy as the boys are carted off to a hellish juvenile facility where their loyalty to each other is tested. Like Rossellini's GERMANY YEAR ZERO this couches its vision of the human condition with utmost simplicity, the naturalistic performances (by non-professional actors) giving a lifelike rawness.