Gelsomina, an apparently somewhat simple-minded, dreamy young woman, learns that her sister Rosa has died after going on the road with the strongman Zampanò. Now the man has returned a year later to ask her mother if Gelsomina will take Rosa's place.

In La Strada the road ends at the water, the place where the road began. Gelsomina is no longer with Zampanò. He has lost her like he lost Rosa. No other human beside him, he is alone with the sound of the waves licking at the shore.

The circus gives viewers a glimpse into Fellini's mind and moviemaking, showing what inspired him and why circus arts, acrobats, clowns – and the whimsical fantasy and extravagance surrounding the circus – were, in Fellini's view, a perfect metaphor for life itself with all its mysteries and magic as well as the ...

Although there are English subtitles and the voices of the Messrs. Quinn and Basehart have been dubbed into Italian, "La Strada" needs no fuller explanations. It speaks forcefully, poetically and often movingly in a universal language.