Bitter Rice (Riso amaro). Giuseppe De Santis, 1949.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #792, released 2016. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 109 minutes.
Summary: Long scene in a slaughter house.
Details: A climactic stand-off/gunfight takes place in a slaughter house, 1:34:50-1:43:00. The cow heads, legs, and carcasses, and the spattered interior walls are unexpected and shocking.
Despite the contrived drama, Bitter Rice portrays real aspects of mid-20th-century Italy not allowed in fantasies like Three Coins in the Fountain, notably the intricacies and politics of the arborio rice harvest and of the women who perform that work. The poorly lit, low ceilinged building in which the dramatic climax of the film takes place probably is a real rural slaughterhouse, with very little set dressing required.