Die Basiliken

Lina Wertmüller's directorial debut from 1963, I Basilischi (The Lizards) is a quietly powerful look at life in Italy's deep south in the 1960s. I assume (film buffs can correct me) that this fits into the Italian Neo Realism film movement that captured the world's attention in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. It is shot in a semi-documentary style and some of the actors are amateurs. The film is in black & white, but it is beautiful, with fabulous shots of a gorgeous medieval town and the the wide open spaces of a nearly treeless countryside, each desolate in their own way. The movie's power really hits home at the end, not for any special effects or momentous events, but because the cumulative message of the film's protagonists finally comes through.