Stromboli

Synopsis

Ingrid Bergman plays a woman who in postwar Italy marries an Italian soldier to escape an internment camp.

Together they travel to his native vulcanic island of Stromboli. On Stromboli, life is harsh and the local conservative population does not accept a sophisticated modern foreign woman amongst them.

As she becomes increasingly unhappy, she tries to find solace in the priest and light house keeper. The priest seeks only to save her soul, but the light house keeper returns her flirtations, to the humiliation of her husband who reacts violently.

When the island vulcano erupts she is saved, but becomes determined to leave the island. Her husband locks her up, but with the assistance of the light house keeper she escapes and sets out to reach the island’s other village from where she will escape to the mainland. The film ends with her at the top of the vulcano arguing with god pleading for strength to carry on.

Impression

An interesting film, if nothing else for the raw portrayal of the life of a dying society. Bergman’s characters comes across as not particularly sympathetic, even if she does initially make an effort to make the island life work, however it’s hard to really feel sympathy for any of the characters in the film. In the end what becomes most interesting is the contrast between the bright nordic Bergman with the local deeply conservative community and how they both fail to come together. Religion plays a large role, as a form of suppression of free will, but also as the glue that ties the remaining population of Stromboli together. It becomes clear almost from the beginning that escape in some form must be the ultimate conclusion.