Watch I Vinti

I Vinti is a compelling 1953 drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, featuring three loosely connected stories of young people who commit senseless acts of violence and homicide in Europe and the United States. The film is based on separate true-life cases of murder and thrill crimes that took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which Antonioni exposes to critique the moral bankruptcy of his generation. The title I Vinti translates to 'The Condemned' or 'The Vanquished,' evoking the social and psychological isolation of the protagonists.

The film contains three segments, set in France, Italy, and England, which link the protagonists' cultural and historical backgrounds to their perception of violence. In the first episode, a group of young French students with intellectual and artistic pretenses embarks on a journey to the French Riviera to emulate their literary and film idols. However, boredom, envy, and a volatile sense of masculinity push them to kidnap and murder a wealthy American tourist and steal his car. The second episode takes place in Rome, where a handsome and selfish young man, played by Jean-Pierre Mocky, convinces his impressionable younger brother to commit a murder to get attention and money. The motivation for the crime is unclear but reflects the bleak and uncertain future that post-war Italy faced.

The third segment takes place in London, where a young man receives an inheritance and decides to spend it differently than his expectations. Instead of enjoying the money, he becomes increasingly alienated from his middle-class family, wanders the city aimlessly, and, one night, kills a taxi driver for no particular reason. The episodes present a bleak picture of Western youth's loss of values, faith, and moral direction, and its obsession with greed, violence, and power.

Throughout I Vinti, Antonioni's keen sense of style and composition captures the desolate landscapes and urban decay of post-war Europe, anticipating his later masterworks such as L'Eclisse and Blow-Up. The black-and-white cinematography emphasizes the stark contrasts of light and shadow, signifying the ambiguity and complexity of human behavior. The use of non-actors and improvisation adds to the authenticity and immediacy of the performances, making the characters seem more like real people than archetypes.

The film's reception varied widely from country to country, reflecting its controversial themes and sociopolitical implications. In Italy, the film received a hostile reaction from the Catholic Church and the conservative press, which deemed it amoral and anti-patriotic. In France, on the other hand, I Vinti won the prestigious Louis Delluc prize for its innovative approach to storytelling and film language. The film's release in the United States proved problematic, as distributors edited and censored several scenes that they deemed too graphic or disturbing.

In conclusion, I Vinti is a sobering and profound film that reflects the disillusionment and discontent of a generation grappling with the aftermath of war, reconstruction, and modernization. Antonioni's style and vision anticipate the existentialist and avant-garde movements of the 1960s, and his critique of society's values and orientations speaks to audiences today. The film's title, I Vinti, suggests that the protagonists are doomed to fail and that their crimes are inevitable consequences of their circumstances and choices. In this sense, I Vinti is a cautionary tale for anyone tempted to surrender their humanity to the seductions of violence and nihilism.