A perfect example of "pink Neorealism", Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice, 1949; directed by Giuseppe De Santis) - one of the first successes of the late Italian producer Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis - told a dramatic story that took place among the mondine, the women working in the rice fields.
Suspended between romanticism, Neorealism and docudrama, this hybrid story featuring Silvana Mangano and with costumes designed by Anna Gobbi, was instantly successful and became the main inspiration for many fashion collections in the following decades.
Mangano embodied in this film the '50s female star, the heroine of the popular photo stories. Several years afterwards her attire in the film - petticoats, shorts and torn black stockings included - reappeared on Mariella Burani’s runways while the advertising campaigns of this Italian fashion house often evoked the moods of this film. The mondine’s famous straw hats also inspired quite a few events, among them also millinery shows and exhibitions during past editions of the Rome High Fashion Week. Echoes of Mangano's look also appeared on Prada's Autumn/Winter 2009-10 collection that included low-cut tops and thick woollen shorts matched with high fisherman's boots.
Yet this post is not about Neorealism or the connections between Bitter Rice and fashion. It is indeed about the Italian mondine and their struggle for better working conditions and equal pay.
The seasonal rice weeders were indeed forced to work in dire conditions, standing in the water up to their knees, their bodies bent over to remove the weeds threatening the rice plants.
Most rice weeders came from the lower social classes and worked for long hours and low wages, which caused strikes and protests, as summarised in songs such as "Se otto ore vi sembran poche" ("If Eight Hours Seem Too Few" - also known as "Se otto ore son troppo poche" or "Se otto ore"/"Le otto ore").
On 8th March we celebrate International Women's Day and remembering the mondine is a way to remind ourselves of the many struggles women went through in the past and are going through now.
Equal rights and opportunities are still a mirage in many countries, while new forms of slavery, including human trafficking and violence, still affect our society. The mondine used to sing while working in the rice fields and most of their songs told stories of fights against the capitalist farmers to get a decent wage or recounted tragic tales of young girls who even lost their feet as a consequence of working in the water for too many hours a day.
As inspiration, I'm embedding some of their songs (re-recorded by a choir of elderly mondine from Bentivoglio) hereunder. Italian speakers will appreciate the lyrics more, but there is a poignant sadness and fierceness in their voices that will hopefully inspire also non-Italian speakers.
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