Miracolo a Milano (1951)
Directed by Vittorio de Sica, this neo-realist fable explains the lives of a poverty-stricken group in post-war Milan, Italy. An old woman finds a baby among the cauliflowers in her garden. She takes care of the orphan, and calls him Totò. When she dies, he is sent to an orphanage. When Totò goes out in the world, he expects everyone to be open-hearted as himself, but it isn't so. Without belongings and a place to live, he soon turns up among other homeless people outside Milano. With his energy and enthusiasm Totò quickly engages the outcasts in transforming the place into a small shanty town. But when the wealthy Mr. Mobbi buys the land he will try to get rid of the outcasts. De Sica was an Academy Award winning director, actor, and a leading member of the Italian neorealism movement.
