By Jack Shanley

As we approach the 55th anniversary of ‘Nights Of Cabiria’, I felt it was an opportunity to reflect on the great Federico Fellini’s Italian classic. The 1957 film is a wo-hour long conversation with the heart, soul and spirit of the audience. ‘Nights of Cabiria’ is a deep, heartbreaking and sorrowful, yet eloquent story that follows the main character, Cabiria, a street walker who dreams of a better life. Unfortunately, life isn’t particularly too kind to her but nevertheless, she looks for meaning through romantic love.This happy-go-lucky character, the embodiment of sadness, pain and bad luck, deals with the unfortunate natures of life as she smiles through the tears. The film is the transcendence of the truth of life reflected through the magic of the projector straight onto the splendid screen for our eyes to witness life instead of living it. It is very much character driven and although it’s a sad film, it’s also quite funny, poignant and enjoyable to watch. Not only is the true essence of life represented in the material but it also provides two hours’ entertainment.Fellini, the Italian maestro, left his imprint in all thefilms he directed for us to enjoy forever. ‘Nights OfCabiria’ is one of his best films and stands out because of the character of Cabiria at the helm of the story. Cabiria, an invincible woman with an unbreakable human spirit, is someone we can all identify with.Though she has deflating experiences like being pushed into the Tiber River and being led-on, she repeatedly opens her heart, hoping to find love and stability. ‘Nights Of Cabiria’ has also been a hugely influential Film, going on to influence the musical ‘Sweet Charity’ (1967).It also won many awards including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957. Like good wine, it gets better with age and I give it a score of Five Stars.You can buy ‘Nights of Cabiria’ at Tower Records for €16.99. Director: Federico Fellini – Rating: PG - Genre: Drama/Romance - Run Time: 1h 58m Language: Italian. •For more film content please follow @movies4fanatics on Instagram. Nights of Cabiria (1957) – IMDb