Giovanni Vivaldi (Alberto Sordi) has worked for the government for over thirty years, running the pension office, making his impending retirement bittersweet. However, his son, Marion (Vincenzo Crocitti) is about to enter the work-force, and both his father and mother (Shelley Winters) believe it would be a good idea for their intelligent but meek son to follow in his father’s footsteps and enter into civil service. However, thousands of other young Italians aspire to the same, so Mario has to be competitive if he is to be employed – but knowing that he does not have the same capacity as some of the others, Giovanni takes it upon himself to ensure his son gets a job in the government – even going so far as to pledge his life to an underground organization just to help his son in getting the job. Unfortunately, things don’t transpire as planned, and when the Vivaldi family has their life considerably shaken up by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they have to adapt – but with Giovanni be able to let it go?

An Average Little Man (Italian: Un borghese piccolo piccolo) is a film I have been keenly aware of for a while, and several times, those who recommended it all urged all potential viewers to not research this film, or even go so far as to read what it is about. Going into a film completely blind is something almost entirely impossible nowadays, but when it goes happen, it can lead to fascinating results. In this instance, not only was it beneficial, it created an extraordinary experience, because An Average Man is far from a normal film – a seamless combination of genres and conventions and a genre-blending achievement that takes the audience on a strange but compelling journey into the bureaucratic corridors of bourgeois Italian society, and subjecting us to the desperate measures one ordinary individual, the titular “average man” (or in the case of the Italian title, the “petty, petty bourgeoisie”, which I personally prefer) to ensure the safety and security not only of his family, but also of their honour. Mario Monicelli crafted a brilliant dark comedy that deconstructs conventions and delivers an emotional, thought-provoking and ultimately deeply moving story about defending family, whatever the cost.

What is so captivating about An Average Little Man, and perhaps the main reason for its success, is the leading performance. Alberto Sordi is incredible as Giovanni Vivaldi, the titular man going to any lengths to make sure his family remains stable and respected. He is the very definition of selfless – he has given Italy the finest years of his life, working tirelessly in a low-level public servant role, gaining very little in return, not even a vote of confidence in his son being able to enter the same workplace. All Giovanni cares about is his family, and wants them to flourish and succeed, and even if he does prioritize his son over his wife (an almost unrecognizable Shelley Winters, the last person I’d ever expect to appear in a small Italian dark comedy such as this), he is a loving husband, and a doting father. This is precisely where An Average Little Man succeeds – the film is almost entirely focused on our protagonist, and thus shows his development from an elderly milquetoast looking forward to a peaceful retirement (even hoping to move to the countryside, buying a small but quaint lakeside shack that he and his wife can spend their final days in), to a vengeful, vicious misanthrope, all over the course of a few days. Sordi is extremely impressive, and while he is known more for his comedic work, he takes a momentary break from more light and endearing roles to play a more complex character, and he is astonishing. It is not a particularly difficult character to play, but Sordi creates someone who feels so real and effortlessly natural. This film may have its flaws, but one of them certainly isn’t Sordi’s compelling, beautiful and memorable performance.

This is where we need to discuss this film and its execution of some concepts, so if you have not seen this film but intend to (which is highly suggested), skip the next few paragraphs. What makes An Average Little Man so memorable is that it has one of the most brilliant shifts in tone out of any film you’re likely to see. At the outset, we are presented with this upbeat, almost slapstick comedy about a middle-class man, his extremely-religious wife and his genial but simple son. It seems to be fixing to be a comedy of manners, a hilarious social account of modern life and the trials and tribulations of an ordinary individual, or “an average little man”. After a tragic event, it turns into a tense revenge thriller, whereby our protagonist, who has made his career from being a law-abiding citizen, ventures off to get revenge on the man who killed his son. What was constructed as a traditional Italian comedy at the outset eventually becomes a dark and twisted thriller about one man’s declining psychological state in the wake of a massive tragedy. It would not be an absurd concept to consider An Average Little Man one of the more jarring films of the period, because despite being relatively tame in how it portrays vengeance and violence, its presentation of this bleak story is stark considering the previous hour had been nothing but genuinely upbeat. Its effortless oscillation between radically different genres makes for an enthralling experience.

An Average Little Man is a very small and intimate film, and it is not particularly popular (although it really should be) – but its message is one that demands attention. This is not just a mere film about a father taking vengeance for his son’s murder. It is a bleak film about society and its disdain for those residing at the bottom of the ladder. The Vivaldi family may be comfortable – Giovanni is retiring after thirty years as a civil servant, and he may not be a rich man in terms of material wealth, but he has spiritual satiation. The responsibility is now on the next generation, and when his perfect life is shifted out of balance, he has no choice but to take revenge. Giovanni is an anomaly of a character – he is a genuinely good man who does awful things. He is willing to challenge his own morals and virtues for the sake of his family, and when the tragedy leaves his loved ones altered forever, he has no choice but to continue sacrificing morality for vindication – perhaps not for himself, but for his ancestors (which are clearly important to him, as his profanity of choice is to curse the ancestors of those who cross him). From the outset, there is foreshadowing to Giovanni’s cruel and merciless nature – consider the scene where he brutally kills a fish for no other reason than to get vindication for it being a predator. Little do we know that in about an hour, he will go after a far more malicious creature, being a predator of his own. At the start, the bureaucratic themes of this film are played for laughs, but that gradually fades away as we see there is no escape from the system, unless you retire (like Giovanni), are rendered only partially human (like Amalia) or die (like Mario). The system only favours you as long as you’re functional, and for these characters, there is no such choice but to adhere to a vicious bourgeois system. An Average Little Man is a film about grief and loss in the face of hopeless social chaos – the most profoundly moving scene in this film comes when Giovanni goes to see his son at the cemetery, only to find him awaiting burial, and put in a shed, placed amongst hundreds of other caskets, stacked to the roof and surrounded by the mourning families of those deemed too unimportant to even be given the simple decency of a proper burial. This is only one of several moments of profound sorrow and deeply unsettling social commentary scattered throughout the film.

I found An Average Little Man to be an utterly incredible film – a complex, compelling and ultimately extremely rewarding experience that may be slightly jarring, but builds to something very special. Alberto Sordi is astonishing in the leading role, playing a man who does not want to go to extreme measures but is compelled to do so as a result of his undying devoting to his family and to his own belief in bringing honour to the Vivaldi family name. He will sacrifice morals and even cross the boundaries between legality and criminality for the sake of bolstering his loved ones. Yet, this film may appear to be a comedy, and there are several hilarious moments (even in the bleakest parts), but it is ultimately a melancholy work, an unsettling and extremely saddening film about desperation and despair. This is a gripping film, one full of surprises and a work that defies every expectation the viewer has. If there was ever a film the demanded a better reputation, An Average Little Man is certainly it. It is unforgettable, brilliant filmmaking at its most satirical and ultimately most heartwrenching.  A truly wonderful film.