Umberto D. 1952

Charles Ealy, Dallas Morning News: A slow-moving, gentle movie about the harsh facts of life. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: One of the great humanist cinema works: a portrayal of age, poverty and simple lives in postwar Rome that is both luminous and heartbreaking. Read more

Bosley Crowther, New York Times: Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: This simple, almost Chaplinesque story of a man fighting to preserve his dignity is even more moving for its firm grasp of everyday activities. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's hard to think of a more remarkable tribute to the resilience of the human spirit than the one Umberto D. puts on the screen. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It is said that at one level or another, Chaplin's characters were always asking that we love them. Umberto doesn't care if we love him or not. That is why we love him. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: The moral punch of a postwar 'art film' classic like Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D. (1952) can be bruising, if only for the movie's unblinking consideration of how society discards the unwanted elderly. Read more