"I'm Not Scared"
During one hot summer in a remote village in Southern
Italy in 1978, 10-year old Michele (Giuseppe
Cristiano) discovers another boy, Filippo (Mattia Di
Pierro), chained in a hole beneath an abandoned house.
Frightened at first, curiosity gets the better of him
and Michele soon wants to help his new friend. But his
plans to aid the little boy fall apart when he
overhears his parents talking and learns that they and
the rest of the adults in the village are taking part
in a nefarious ransom scheme involving the captive
child in "I'm Not Scared."
Helmer Gabrielle Salvatores made quite a career splash
when he won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
with his wonderful, funny, sometimes sad and
melancholy World War 2 feature, "Mediterraneo." That
film, about a group of eight Italian soldiers sent to
garrison a small, isolated Greek island and the affect
it and its natives has on them, is a lighthearted, yet
deeply meaningful story of change and understanding -
and love. Salvatores departs from such whimsy with the
adaptation of Niccolo Ammaniti's novel (with the
screenplay by Ammaniti and Francesca Marciano) about
an easily frightened 10-year old boy who must overcome
his fears to save another.
Michele is a follower in the gang that rides their
bikes looking for games and mischief in the
sun-drenched rural southern Italian town. He is
protective of his little sister, Maria (Giulia
Matturro), sacrificing his chance to be the winner of
a race (and not the rotten egg) to help her find her
glasses. The race ends at an abandoned house in the
middle of nowhere and the kids explore their new find.
Michele is drawn to the place and returns, alone, the
next day. He discovers a dried up well covered with a
sheet of corrugated iron. He imagines vast wealth of
"gold and gems" hidden in the hole and pulls the cover
away. What he sees is a foot protruding out from a
blanket. He drops the cover and takes off like a bat,
thinking he has just seen a corpse.
Michele may be a timid boy but he is also full of
youthful curiosity. He returns the hole again and
again, even after having the bejeezus scared out of
him when the creature in the hole jumps out from the
darkness. Michele realizes, though, that this is not a
monster but a boy his own age. He is afraid to find
out why the boy, Filippo, is chained in the hole but
that does not stop him from giving his new friend
water, bread and, even, taking him out of the dreadful
hole for a day in the sun. He begins to read clues
from the adults in the town, overhears them talking
with a newly arrived stranger, Sergio (Diego
Abatantuono), and sees a news report about a missing,
kidnapped boy - Filippo. The sinister talk of the
adults - even his mother, Anna (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon),
and father, Pino (Dino Abbrecsia), are conspirators in
the heinous crime - force Michele to a brave decision
to save Filippo from murder.
"I'm Not Scared" is fine film for older children (if
you can get them to watch an Italian film with English
subtitles) that takes the historical events and
turmoil in Italy in the 1970's and plugs them into the
life of a young boy in a remote village. This
superimposing of period politics over the life of
Michele makes for a hair-raising adventure of
discovery, salvation, rebellion and heroism. Young
Guiseppe Cristiano is well cast as the unlikely hero
of the story and, with his wide-eyed innocence, gives
a decent performance as Michele. You see the world
through his eyes and the story maintains that view to
the end.
This is a nicely crafted coming of age film by
Salvatores and he deftly shapes the story into an
appealing package. The use of the lush rural landscape
magically captured by Italo Petriccione's masterful
lens gives the mystery-adventure an other-worldly look
with the peaceful-seeming locale and unlikely hero.
Unfortunately, from a marketing standpoint, I don't
expect that "I'm Not Scared" will find a niche
audience in English-speaking venues, at least for the
target audience of older youngsters. This is a shame
as it is a fine, youth-oriented adventure tale. I give
it a B.
For mor Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com
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