Shoeshine (Alfa; Lopert) may strengthen a suspicion that the best movies in the world are being made, just now, in Italy. U.S. audiences have seen only one other important Italian picture, Open City. Shoeshine, in some respects, is even better.
In subject and story, Shoeshine is deceptively modest. It traces the gradual destruction of two boys of the Roman streets, twelve-year-old Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) and his close friend, 14-year-old Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi). They are attractive and resourceful children, at first appearance, living the anarchic, hand-to-mouth life of most of Italy during the chaotic...
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