The Wide Blue Road

Yves Montand stars in this restored 1957 political melodrama from Gillo Pontecorvo (The Battle of Algiers). He plays a defiant, struggling fisherman off the Dalmatian coast of Italy who uses dynamite instead of nets to make his daily haul in an attempt to better the life of his wife and three children. His peers tolerate his unlawful use of explosives until a domino effect of events and pursuit by the coast guard alienates the Montand character from even his oldest, closest friends. Pontecorvo, much to his own chagrin, was forced by the producers to photograph this neorealist passion play in color and use the glamorous Alida Valli (The Third Man) as Montand’s wife. Nonetheless, this film about family dynamics and devotion, love, capitalism versus cooperative agreements, and greed works as both art and artifact.