La Strada is an excellent black and white film. The story begins and ends on the beach where excellent scenes are created. Each beach scene has a shot that pans the beach. The first shot finds Gelsomina on the beach and then shows her running home. At the end of the film, the shot begins to pan out after Zampano falls to the ground weeping for the lost hope of Gelsomina and his own empty life. The shots add to the drama and the beauty of this film.

Some scenes of La Strada are filmed in partial darkness. In these scenes, something bad is usually happening, either Gelsomina has been left alone or is being mistreated by Zampano. The darkness lets the viewer know that something terrible is happening to poor Gelsomina, something maybe we shouldn't even watch. The darkness underscores the dark themes...