Nights of Cabiria

            Cabiria, a film made in 1956, displays the struggles of a woman hoping to find happiness and love from a man. She makes a living by prostituting, and every man she comes in contact with takes advantage of her vulnerability. Giorgio, Alberto, and Oscar all hurt Cabiria in multiple ways, even though she gives them everything and tries to gain their acceptance. The pattern of her heartache and anger is a continuous reoccurrence in the film, and makes viewers believe that she will have a hard time finding happiness. In the last scene of the film, Cabiria has a tear running down her face and walks off alone, but is soon met by a band of musicians. At that moment she builds a smile upon her face, even after all of the anguish she faces throughout the film. I believe that at that moment, Cabiria realizes that she does not need a man to make her feel like she is not alone. Cabiria changes herself and does not rely on others to change her. Her smile is lifted from behind her tears because she feels the joy surrounding her, and I think she realizes that there is no use in crying over someone who did not deserve her happiness in the first place.

            All of the male characters in the film pursue something in Cabiria that she is not searching for herself. They all either want money or lust, while she wants love and happiness. Cabiria carries herself through the streets of Rome with high hopes, but always manages to get caught in an act of deceit and heartache. The first man who appears in the film is Giorgio, who pushes her into a pond for 40,000 lira. Her rage and anger is casted towards everyone, even those who save her life.  Soon thereafter she is dancing with her prostitute friends and having a good time. We never get to understand the real Cabiria because all of her emotions seem as though they are exaggerated. She cannot understand why someone who she loves would try to drown her, but likewise she allows people to do pretty much whatever they want with her. It is hard to understand as a viewer where her happiness comes from, and I also think Cabiria does not truly know. She knows she wants to find love and she wants something to change, but she is not sure how to put her hopes into action.

            Another man that causes Cabiria’s self-realization at the end of the film is the famous actor Alberto Lazzati. I believe she goes with this man because she hopes something good will come out of their night, but he ends up locking Cabiria up in a bathroom to hide her from his fiancé. She relies on him to make her happy, but he is too caught up in his own lifestyle and luxury to care about a woman like her. It seems like a repetitive scene where Cabiria puts trust into a man with many faults that Cabiria chooses to overlook. Her one hope in life is to be happy and to have someone love her, but she will never be able to reach these goals unless she can be happy and love herself.

            The last contender in Cabiria’s spiral downwards is a man named Oscar. They fall in love and are soon to be married. This could be because Cabiria prayed to the Madonna for something to change, but we soon find out that Oscar was only going to marry her for her money, and also intends to push her off of a cliff. She has been stepped on countless times by the people she surrounds herself with. It is as though none of the things in her life matter if she can’t be happy, but Cabiria has yet to realize that it is the way she is dependent on others for her happiness. Cabiria walks away in tears as the movie is coming to an end. As viewers we want the best for Cabiria, but it seems impossible at this point.

            Cabiria walks alone but suddenly comes across a lively orchestra of people who smile at her and show her friendliness. They dance and sing alongside her, I believe helping her forget all of her past distress. Something very unexpected happens within Cabiria; she looks towards the audience and a grin lightens up across her face. This confused me at first—how could Cabiria be happy after all of the hurt she experienced throughout the film? Nonetheless, her perseverance to find true happiness through scumbags and deceitful liars opened her eyes to what she could have been doing wrong the entire time. These men are not going to change her life around for the better. Even though Cabiria is now alone, she is now surrounded by warmth, delight, and a true love for herself. If Cabiria had never experienced the hurt she did throughout the film, she would not have been able to hope for something better and be optimistic about her life. By people hurting her, she comes to the conclusion that the only person she can rely on is herself.

-Allison Emery 

At the time of The Searchers release racism was a hot issue. The Brown v. Board of education decision was only two years old and to a generation who criticized Rock ‘n Roll music by calling it “too black”, treating Native Americans as equals was virtually unheard of. It was in this setting that John Ford released The Searchers, starring John Wayne as the wildly and unapologetically racist Ethan Edwards. Although a large number of western plots revolved around the conflict between western settlers and Native Americans, at that time few dealt with the issue the way Ford did in The Searchers.

            Ethan’s harsh attitude towards Native Americans was evident from the very start of the film. His dismay at Martin Pawley’s being 1/8 Cherokee was clear and even went to the extent of him refusing to let Martin call him “Uncle”. His ruthlessness is clear in one scene when we witness several clearly traumatized ex-Comanche prisoners. One man remarks “It’s hard to believe they’re white.” to which Ethan responds, “They’re not white anymore, they’re Comanche.” This racism even goes so far as to motivate him to attempt to kill Debbie after it is clear she has “gone Indian”. Furthermore he takes evident pleasure in the killing of Comanche, even shooting the coins off of a dead Indians eyes so that he forced to wander the spirit land.

            To this point, Ethan is clearly well-versed in Comanche culture, even knowing their language. This becomes extremely telling in his encounter with Scar. After years of tracking they come face to face and show evident displeasure at each of them knowing the others language. More surprising is the revelation that in addition to language, Scar and Ethan also share a similar motivation for killing. Scar reveals that his impetus for killing white men comes from the fact that they took three of his son’s lives.

            Seldom in the film industry of the time were Native Americans even humanized enough to speak a commonly understood language. It was surprising that Ford drew such attention to the plight of the Indians when so many films treated them as heartless savages. He even took the care to include their children in the film when most other films choose to glaze over this detail.

            Through Ethan’s growth from hardened racist to someone who accepts Debbie after she allegedly was converted to Comanche after living with some long and finally to walking off into the sunset we question whether he is the real protagonist or if the Comanche are really the bad guys.

            Although The Searchers is a long way off from Dances With Wolves, it did send a strong message concerning racism in a time where this message was much needed. In this way it was revolutionary in addition to being entertaining and using pioneering panoramic camerawork that exposed the rugged beauty of America’s Midwest. 

Marshall Fegenbush