Product Description

Two best friends find their bond tested by the trials of postwar Italy's street crime and prison life in this neorealist classic from legendary director Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief). While shining shoes for a living and dreaming of buying a horse of their very own, young Giuseppe and Pasquale are confronted by harsh reality when they are embroiled in a smuggling ring, quickly learning that innocence and childish dreams can only last so long in a world in turmoil. Winner of an honorary 1948 Academy Award (a first for a foreign film), this groundbreaking look at children coming of age against the steepest odds remains a moving, unforgettable experience in world cinema.

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Legendary critic Pauline Kael was notoriously hard to please, so it's worth noting that Shoeshine was one of her all-time favorite films. It remains an undisputed masterpiece of Italian neorealism from the genre's foremost practitioner, and although director Vittorio De Sica's stature has diminished over the years, Shoeshine is undeniably the artistic equal of De Sica's subsequent classics The Bicycle Thief and Umberto D. Shot on location using amateur actors, this wrenching 1946 drama captures an unblinking portrait of desperate survival in post-war Rome, where two young shoeshine boys are imprisoned for selling stolen goods. Their innocence is gradually corrupted by mistrust, greed, and self-preservation, and their dreams destroyed by the indifference of Italy's traumatized society, making Shoeshine a harsh and yet lyrically truthful experience. In praising this simple, unforgettable film, Kael deserves the last word: "If Mozart had written an opera set in poverty, it might have had this kind of painful beauty." --Jeff Shannon

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches; 2.88 ounces
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ DVD
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Image Entertainment