La Terra trema

Tired of being exploited by the fishing boat owners, ‘Ntoni decides to mortgage his house, buy a boat and go into business for himself in association with his brothers. A violent storm destroys the boat and the family is ruined. ‘Ntoni is forced to return to the “owners”, but some hope shines through this pessimistic ending. Visconti’s second feature, the film was presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1948, then distributed in shortened versions which were often dubbed in Italian (the original dialogue was in Sicilian). “La Terra Trema is not a film that needs critical exploration. Its poetic secrets can be discovered in the way it moves us, you have to feel its vibrations”, Michelangelo Antonioni in Bianco e nero, July 1949.