Once again, I had the pleasure of joining Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast to talk about another film from the 1995 Vatican Film List: Federico Fellini’s La Strada (1954) - one of the director’s best-known and most-loved films, as well as one of Pope Francis’s personal favourites.
Myself and hosts Thomas Mirus and James T. Majewski were joined by poet, philosopher, and professor James Matthew Wilson to unpack this luminous and deceptively simple work. One takeaway I had as a first-time viewer: it was something of a revelation to see how much this one film has influenced the last 60 years of filmmaking in Europe and the U.S. Like Journey to Italy (the other 1954 modern arthouse-defining masterwork by a former Italian neo-realist pioneer), this one has left a long wake of inspiration - especially in the films of Martin Scorsese and James Gray.
Watch on Youtube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. I hope you enjoy our conversation!