Stromboli, Land of God

                                                 

'Stromboli, Land of God' is a film from Roberto Rossellini, which chronicles the exploration of a woman regarding her place in the universe. It is the first collaboration between Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman, soon followed by their marriage. Made before ‘Journey to Italy’, the film is another film that represents the transitory period of Rossellini’s cinematic style. In a sense, ‘Stromboli’ follows a stricter approach to demonstrate the thought process of the director than ‘Journey to Italy’, where the final revelation felt more like a ‘wow’ moment for the audience. ‘Stromboli’ possessed a more streamlined structure, and the audience can effectively map out the mental landscape of the protagonist’s existence.

The story concerns Karin (Ingrid Bergman), as a foreigner in a foreign place. She was retained in an internment camp (the setting was after WWII) and eventually she found a chance to escape this ensnarement – by marrying an ex-POW who came from Stromboli, a volcanic island between Italy and Sicily. Yet does our white knight take the princess towards a happy life ever after? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Emerging from one hell only leads to the entrance of another one. Karin soon found the new home of Stromboli rather unwelcoming, as the locals there were surely skeptical and hostile towards this young foreign intruder.  The geographical setting of Stromboli was also alienating for Karin. Shoring up her courage, Karin decided to stage another escape…

Rossellini, while trying to incorporate new though structure into his films, have never forgotten his cinematic origin. ‘Stromboli’ is a film where the physical landscape is as crucial to the plot as to the mental landscape of the characters. The film is shot impressively at location, and also features non-professional actors from the place. These features have provided an authenticity to the film, an attribute key to the Italian Neo-Realism best represented by the director.

The location Stromboli is not merely a convenience for the storyline. Evidently, the fact that Stromboli was a lively volcano served as a mise-en-scene for the emotions of humans – the sudden thrust of passion, fueled by the mysterious yet present drive from the Eros. On the other hand, the name Stromboli was derived from a Greek world stromgylos, meaning round. As a great word to describe the shape of the volcano, it is also symbolic for the metaphysical dimension of existence, from Presocratic philosophy to Stoicism. The well organized and enclosed world by the divine, and can be easily projected into the existence of individual humans. 

When Bergman climbed up to Stromboli, she witnessed the eruption of the volcano at a very close distance. Nature, as a gift from the divine, demonstrated its power upon humanity. Individualistic as she is, Bergman finally could appreciate the vastness of the universe and how small she is in her surroundings. Emotionally perturbed, she wept and lost her composure as she is completely overwhelmed by such as transcendental experience.  She prayed to God for the power of understanding and for the inspiration to guide through her existence. Her experience stroke a chord with the ideas of the poets of transcendentalism of the 18th to 19th century, such as Wordsworth and Coleridge, where the natural environment offered clues and insights about the transcendental power from the divine. 

by Ed Law

23/9/2025

Journey to Italy

                                         

What can one get out from a voyage to an unknown place? Other than immersing yourself in the scenery and culture of the undiscovered country, a spiritual awakening can be the most precious souvenir to the soul. If you are asking for such an experience, you are invited: Roberto Rossellini’s ‘Journey to Italy’ (1954) will certainly be a satisfying one!

‘Journey to Italy’ is an important film in the middle era of Rossellini’s directorial career, sandwiched between his Neo-Realist cinema of the 1940s and the clinical docudramas of the 1960s. This film is an acid test for distinguishing between contrasting beliefs and cinematic taste. When it premiered, it divided critics and audience alike. The traditional filmmakers and members of audience hated the style of the film, and the film performed poorly financially. Rather, it was the young generations of the filmmakers – in particular the French New Wave – that got the meaning of the film and lauded it as a masterpiece. Now ‘Journey to Italy’ is seen as one of Rossellini’s greatest achievement. Furthermore, the film illustrates the gradual evolution of Rossellini’s style. From his strong commitment to realism in his earliest days to the spiritual / transcendental style in his late films, ‘Voyage of Italy’ represents a combination of the two distinct style – with a consistent (albeit loosely told) storyline and the transcendental images such as a religious procession and natural landscape.

The story concerns an English couple, Alex Joyce (George Sanders) and Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman), who travelled to Naples to deal with some business issues, and had an opportunity to do some sightseeing there. Yet, any fun in travelling soon gave way to domestic drama : Alex and Katherine had a strained relationship and throughout the journey that reached a breaking point. Both sides decided to keep some distance and therefore they parted way for a few days and did their own travelling instead. Alex spent his time, much like the characters in any 1960s films by Antonioni, and ended up achieving only emptiness in his soul. Katherine decided to immerse in the natural landscape and history of Naples and explored around the city. They eventually reached a common resolution though – a divorce was inevitable. Who would step in and save the day?

‘Journey of Italy’ is seen as a modernist film, a term much preferred by the forward-thinking filmmakers for the 1960s. Rossellini adopted a loose and episodic storyline for the film, and he also tried to enhance spontaneity by giving dialogues to the actors only shortly before shooting individual scenes. By eschewing rehearsal and preventing analysis, the actors could deliver an organic performance that resonated well with the episodic structure of the film.

Rossellini’s film not only influenced the young European filmmakers of the 1960s, it also exerted an observable influence on Michelangelo Antonioni’s films of the 1960s. The style and content of ‘Journey of Italy’ is very similar to Antonioni’s ‘L’Avventura’, and Rossellini’s use of landscapes to express transcendental or spiritual ideas was also emphasized by Antonioni in his work. Though the abandonment of a conventional story-telling approach, the usual peripheral landscape can be seen in a new light. The audience has to find active meanings through a new and unprecedented perspective, and that is the sentiment that gives the landscape an otherworldliness and ‘transcendence’, though not necessarily religious and spiritual by nature.

Speaking of perspective, ‘Journey of Italy’ is about a miracle that solved the English couple’s marriage problems. Alex and Katherine looked for alternatives for consolation of the soul. The film climaxed in a religious procession, where they miraculously reconciled and confirmed their love for each other. This is like a spiritual enlightenment for the couple, and the approach to show the scene is very similar to the miracle scene in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s ‘Ordet’, where the transcendental act is a portrayed like a spiritual black box. The final crane shot which showed the couple’s embrace testified their victory against a key problem in human relationships. 

What a brilliant masterpiece from the husband-and-wife team, Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman!

by Ed Law 

Film Analysis