When Gelsomina, a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband's coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together. Soon Zampanò must deal with his jealousy and conflicted feelings about Gelsomina when she finds a kindred spirit in Il Matto, the carefree circus fool, and contemplates leaving Zampanò.
A child says that a dog died, but you never see the dog, alive or dead. There are several stray dogs seen briefly during the film, but nothing happens to any of them.
There’s a brief moment when a man is hitting sheep with a thin stick or cane to get them to hurry across a road. I didn’t like it but I don’t know if it counts exactly.
There is no ableist language, but a woman with an implied developmental disability is forcibly married off by her parents and abused - it's suggested she is innocent to the nature of the relationship and not fully understanding of it.