Melena, her name is a symbol of beauty that deeply carves in the people’s hearts of Sicily. Because of her beauty, women hate her, taunt her and unwilling to sell anything to her. All the men in Sicily want to possess her, and find the favor in her eyes. But at the same time, they’re unwilling to admit her beauty. They gossiped her had an affair with someone because her husband had been away the town for war, and pointed at her and looked down on her.
At the very beginning of the movie, the director shows us how beautiful Melena is.A simple walking of Melena, she causes a stir among all the men and rage other women in Sicily with a sense of crisis. The beauty of Melena conquer everyman in the town and her beauty is quite noble and untouchable to all the men. At least the young boy---Renato thinks so. He eagers to grow up and to be strong enough to get a chance to get close to his goddess---Melena.
When the bad news comes from the frontline: Melena’s husband get killed in the war. All the men become opportunists in one night. Because they think they may be able to possess her. Still, she’s the widow of hero. People respect her on the surface. So men in town are very happy secretively; the other women tries very hard to restrain their growing hatred. Melena lives alone ,cooks for and takes care of her father everyday. Even in this time, people still spread slanders against Melena. The death of her husband is only a beginning of Melena’s pathetic life. In
the air crash of Sicily, Melena’s father died in it. She lost her two main spiritual supports. No men dare to hire her because they afraid of their wives. No one is willing to sell her any food because of the envy of her beauty. Some suitors came to her house and provided food and other supplies for her on the condition of getting her beautiful body.
When facing all these stuff, Melena, she’s always quite. But she feels quite disappointed and hopeless to life. She has no choice. She can sit in the house, waits for necessities that comes from her suitor and be their lover. Or she has to make a living by her body. She chooses the latter. She cut her black hair and became a prostitute. She’s quite painful when making such a decision, but people in the town leave her no choice. She gives up. She gives up all persistence and faith, gives up herself and gives up the only remaining hope of the world. She surrenders to the fact and the people.
After the second world war end, everyone in the town celebrates the victory of the war. The people expel all the prostitutes in the town. The women who’s full of envy and anger drag her out to the street and tear up her cloth, hit her, blow her violently, split to her and say every dirty words they can to ruin her. As the men, they just stand still and look at her with cold eyes. To me, that’s the most impressive scene of the whole movie.I make me feel that no one has ever truly love her except the young boy Renato and her husband. She cries heart-breakingly and hug
herself tightly. I think she cries not only because of all the pains she suffers for such a long time, but also the outbreak of her longterm repression. She’s been quite for too long, suffers all those inexplicable humiliations and blasphemes silently.
Many years later, she came back to Sicily with her survived disable husband. She’s no longer a beautiful young lady. She wears simple and plain cloth and wrinkles. The women who has ever blow her, spread her slanders turn to accept her. They chat with her as nothing has ever happened and give their selling goods to her as presents. Honestly, I am not sure why the other women did that. Some people believes that it’s because of their guilty of what they have done to her, the others believes that it’s because her beauty has been long gone: she’s not a threat any more. I cannot figure out the reason. But still this scene waves with the kindness and the darkness of humanity.。