Dir: Giuseppe De Santis | Cast Lucia Bosé, Carla del Poggio, Elena Varzi, Lea Padovani, Delia Scala, Raf Vallone, Massimo Girotti, Paolo Stoppa | Italy Drama 107’
Unusually among neo-realist dramas ‘Roma, Ora 11’ – like the directors’s earlier ‘Riso Amaro’ – in that it largely deals with the plight of women. The film has echoes of ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ and foreshadows the work of Costa-Gavras in its combination of angry social comment and the thrills of an action drama, heightened by the imaginative use of the tap of typewriter keys at certain key moments.
Although the cast contains several faces prominent in the Italian cinema the drama works as an ensemble piece dividing into two parts so that when you reach the midpoint the narrative reaches another level as the action moves from the scene of the accident to a packed casualty ward were the staff have to clean up the mess and everyone squabbles over who was responsible. @RichardChatten