La Strada: Another movie I disagree with the general opinion

Some years ago I was finally going to watch La Strada when it aired on TCM, but we had a thunderstorm blow through and knowck out power, so I only got to see about the first half hour. It finally aired again in Summer Under the Stars on Anthony Quinn's day, and I DVRed it and now watched it. I have to say I was underwhelmed.

Anthony Quinn plays Zampano, an itinerant strongman who sometimes joins the traveling circus and sometimes works alone. His last assistant died, so he takes Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina), a slow woman who's probably slightly retarded, off of her mother's hands by making her his new assistant. But Zampano is generally difficult towards Gelsomina, being a brute of a man. Early on, Zampano spends a day with another woman and basically makes Gelsomina wait for him by the side of the road! And heaven forfend she should ever meet somebody.

Indeed, she does eventually meet a nice man in the form of a tightrope walker nicknamed "The Fool" (Richard Basehart). He's friendly to her, and would even be willing to use her in his act, but Zampano wants no part of that. They continue to travel around the country, until another meeting with The Fool gives the movie its climax.

For me, La Strada was a whole lot of nothing happening. I didn't care much about the characters. Zampano was a jerk, Gelsomina was stupid (although to be fair, her character was probably retarded and couldn't have adult maturity), and Richard Basehart's fool sounded like he was badly dubbed. (Quinn is dubbed, too, but his voice doesn't sound that bad.) When the movie ended, I found myself wondering, "Why?"

And yet, most reviews of La Strada are extremely positive. It's one of those movies I just don't get, so judge for yourself.