MIRACLE IN MILAN (1951)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

The DVD commentary for MIRACLE IN MILAN strives to convince listeners that director Vittorio di Sica didn't stray from his neo-realist ideology when he made MILAN in between two of his most fiercely naturalistic works, BICYCLE THIEVES and UMBERTO D. I agree with this point of view, though not for exactly the same reasons the commentary gives.

The protagonist of MILAN is a true "nature's nobleman," since as an infant he's found in a cabbage patch. (I didn't know the Italians had those old wives' tales about where babies come from...) He's named Toto and adopted by a virtuous old woman, Lolotta, who raises him in a humble shack during his earliest years. Lolotta passes during Toto's childhood and he spends the rest of a cheerful childhood in an orphanage within a shanty town not far from Milan. 

As an adult, Toto (Francesco Golisano) comes to know everyone in his town, impressing them with his kindness and empathy. Everyone in the shanty town is technically a squatter, since rich people in Milan own the land, but their squatting is tolerated because the land seems worthless. Ironically, when the townsfolk are indulging in a fertility ritual, that of erecting a maypole, they accidentally strike oil. The owner, Mobbi by name, then enlists the police to evict the squatters, who have absolutely nowhere to go.

Fortuitously, the spirit of Lolotta has never ceased to watch over her adopted son. She sends to Toto a magical, wish-granting dove just as the police move in. Suddenly Toto finds that he can make wishes that come true, and he communicates to his neighbors that they too can make wishes. Thus the shanty dwellers bring about miracles, like their being able to blow away tear gas with puffs of breath. Not surprisingly, Mobbi and the police retreat in confusion.

However, all the townsfolk begin to want more than the bare survival of their daily existences. They besiege Toto with requests for money, clothing, radios, all the trinkets of conspicuous consumption. Toto himself asks for nothing, but he's too kind-hearted to refuse them. In effect, the townsfolk become just as greedy as the land-owner.

It's not said outright that Heaven becomes aware of these transgressions of natural law, but two angels descend to escort Lolotta's spirit back to the afterlife, and they take the magic dove with them. There's some confusion with a real dove, but the end result is that after some time Mobbi finds out that the town has no celestial protection, so he sends the cops to roust out the unwanted residents. However, Lolotta gets free once more, and through her power and Toto's innocent faith, the townsfolk escape imprisonment and fly up to what is presumably Paradise on an array of brooms.

Though MILAN contain many whimsical scenes-- cops suddenly bursting into song, for one-- I agree with the commentary that Di Sica, adapting a fabulous novel by one Cesare Zavattini, was guided by essentially socialist principles regarding the exploitation of the workers by a moneyed class. It's not entirely clear if the shanty townsfolk lose the favor of Heaven because they start getting as greedy as landowner Mobbi, but their actions certainly aren't viewed with any approbation. There also may be a parallel here with the Biblical account of Christ complaining when his audience almost overwhelms him with their attentions.

After the dove of holy grace is withdrawn, Toto himself becomes a sort of Christ-like interceptor for his sinful neighbors. Yet the final flourish of escape proves unsatisfying. The townsfolk certainly don't have any religious realization of their own folly; none of them have characters developed enough to make that strategy possible. So, in Christian terms, why do they deserve instant translation to a land "where good morning really means good morning?" I understand that Toto's faith saves them, but it seems like they're saved not by any merit of their own, but just because they're from an underprivileged class. And this is the sort of ideological strait-jacket that makes MILAN mostly an appealing curiosity, yet keeps it from ranking among the world's best films of fantasy.

And yet,