An elderly man and his dog struggle to survive on his government pension in Rome.
Umberto Ferrari, aged government-pensioner, attends a street demonstration held by his fellow pensioners. The police dispense the crowd and Umberto returns to his cheap furnished room which he shares with his dog Flick. Umberto's lone friend is Maria, servant of the boarding house. She is a simple girl who is pregnant by one of two soldiers and neither will admit to being the father. When Umberto's landlady Antonia demands the rent owed her and threatens eviction if she is not paid, Umberto tries desperately to raise the money by selling his books and watch. He is too proud to beg in the streets and can not get a loan from any of his acquaintances. He contracts a sore throat, is admitted to a hospital and this puts a delay on his financial difficulty. Discharged, he finds that his dog is gone and, following a frantic search, locates him in the city dog pound. His room has been taken over by the landlady and the now-homeless Unberto determines to find a place for his beloved dog, and then kill himself. Unsuccessful, he resolves that his dog must die with him and he stands in the path of a train, with his dog in his arms.—Les Adams <[email protected]>
Umberto Domenico Ferrari is a retired civil servant who can barely eke out a living on his meager pension. He's behind on his rent and is now threatened with eviction. His only friends are his dog Flike and the young Maria who works as a kitchen maid in his rooming house. He's taken to selling what few possessions he has - his watch, a pair of cherished books - to pay part of his back rent, but the landlady, Olga, insists he must pay her all he owes or she will evict him at the end of the month. Young Maria is pregnant, though she doesn't which of the two she's been seeing is the father, and Umberto offers to help. When Umberto falls ill, and he soon finds himself in hospital where he is found to have tonsillitis. He returns to his boarding house to find himself without a place to stay and learns that his dog has run off. He finds Flike at the pound but must now rebuild his life.—garykmcd
After working thirty years as a dedicated civil servant, Umberto Domenico Ferrari lives solely off a meager Italian government pension. While most pensioners decry the small amount of money from the government, most are unlike Umberto who is in debt, the pension unable to pay off those debts and provide a healthy life for him. He is all alone in the world with no family. His only friends are his dog, a mutt named Flike, and Maria, the young, single maid who works in the house in which he's rented a room for twenty years. Umberto is close to being evicted by his haughty landlady, Olga, for rent not paid, she who has ulterior motives for wanting him out beyond the money. He has until the end of the month to come up with 15.000 lire for current and back rent or be evicted. Maria cannot help him, she who has her own secret which she confides to him, that issue which threatens her own position in the house. So Umberto does whatever he can either to raise the money, which is primarily through selling whatever of his possessions are worth anything monetarily, or cutting back on other expenses. One way he is able to achieve the latter is to parlay off of a case of tonsillitis. Through the process of this basic survival, Umberto will have to make some difficult and often heart wrenching decisions.—Huggo
Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a respectable former civil servant depending on a piteous pension to eke out an existence, is with his back to the wall. And as if struggling to support himself and his bright-eyed dog Flike weren't enough, Domenico now faces eviction. So, to pay the rent, Ferrari embarks on an impossible quest in the bustling streets of Rome, balancing between dignity and shame. However, it's a jungle out there--the desperate-for-cash pensioner knows he is fighting a losing battle. Now, as dark thoughts cloud judgement, a question arises. Is admitting defeat the solution to Umberto's problems?—Nick Riganas
