I'M NOT SCARED (Io non ho paura)
--------------------------------
Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) lives a pretty care free life in a poor rural
Italian village. His only worries are whether he will be the 'rotten egg'
in races through undulating golden wheat fields or if it is his turn to go
down to the cellar to fetch wine for the family meal. One day, Michele
wanders away from his group of friends and discovers a hidden excavation
that houses a boy of about Michele's age, chained to a stake in the ground.
Michele keeps his discovery secret, befriending the strange boy, but when
he trades his secret for a coveted toy he discovers horrific truths that
change his entire worldview in "I'm Not Scared."
Director Gabriele Salvatores ("Mediterraneo") finds the world through a 10
year old's eyes before opening them to some adult realities. By placing a
child in a stunning, country landscape (cinematography by Italo
Petriccione, "Mediterraneo") in a time of political unrest where he finds a
frightening creature and adults act mysteriously, Salvatores has made a
film reminiscent of Spanish masterpiece, "The Spirit of the Beehive."
Here, however, innocence is lost.
Michele is established as a young boy of caring and chivalry by his
treatment of his little sister and another girl who runs with his group.
When he first spies the pale and dirty boy kept in a deep pole, he's
frightened, but he returns and offers friendship and food. 'My dad is
Pino, who is yours?' he asks the other. 'I'm dead - are you my guardian
angel?' says the captive. The scene turns scarier when he discovers that
Filippo's (Mattia Di Pierro) previous meal had been delivered in the
smallest pot of a set just like the one in his mother's kitchen.
When Sergio (Diego Abatantuono), a stranger described as a friend of his
father's, moves in temporarily, the adults begin acting more secretive and
Michele begins to observe. News reports of a child held for ransom and
helicopters flying overhead rattle the adults. Through the crack of a
doorway, Michele sees his father draw a lethal match stick in the kitchen.
Salvatores places portents within Michele's idyllic world early on. A
black crow circles overhead, a bird is found impaled and threshers crest a
hill. In a poetic shot, Michele's mother (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, "The
Chambermaid on the Titanic") hangs the wash, white laundry fluttering
against the horizon, hiding things. Pino (Dino Abbrescia) comes home from
a trip, bearing the gift of a souvenir, a lighted gondolier which is
recalled in the film's final scene with its helicopters and guardian angels.
Reportedly, the source novel includes the underlying theme of Michele
trying to conquer his fears. Only fragmentary references remain in the
film, but Michele's fierce recitation of a nursery-style rhyme ('Spiders
with hairs') as he marches to his destiny is perhaps the film's most moving
moment.
B
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