“La Strada” uses cinema so expertly, it creates the kind of impact and emotional experience you can only get from a movie. A landmark in Italian cinema, this powerhouse of a film became one of the world's most influential films, making Fellini and his wife (the film's star Giulietta Masina) internationally famous.

The film tells the story of Gelsomina, a simple-minded young woman (Giulietta Masina) bought from her mother by Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutish strongman who takes her with him on the road.

La Strada is structurally, and titularly, a road film; “la strada” literally means “the road” in Italian.

However, Federico Fellini utilizes neorealism throughout the film by featuring relatable characters that face very real challenges. These “challenges” appear as random events that appear throughout the film and seem to fall out of the sky. The characters either adapt and grow to them or overlook them and move on.