Review of I'm Not Scared (2003) by Mark B — 27 Feb 2005

"I'm Not Scared" / "[i]Io non ho paura[/i]" is one of the best foreign movies of 2004, and probably the best Italian movie of the year too. Regular readers of this journal (all two of you) know that I love Italian movies, because, like nearly everything in the culture they are done a certain way. Just like Italian cooking, the films are very straightforward. A few fresh ingredients, one or two techniques carefully performed, and the result takes on a life of its own far ahead of what went into it. As with a great Southern Italian dish like [i]linguine alle vongole,[/i] so with this movie.

The simple ingredients here are this: a young boy named Michele and his family are living in poor, backwards and beautiful Puglia in the 1970's. the film commences while he is out playing with the village kids one day. He finds a young boy buried in a hole in the ground. Curious and independent, he returns several times to learn more. As the film progresses, the two boys become friends....

***spoilers****.

It turns out that Michele's father and his friends have kidnapped this young kid to claim a ransom. Now Michele, armed with this knowledge, must try to stop his dad from harming his new friend, and do the right thing, yet without wrecking his family. A tall order for a ten year old, but our hero rises to the challenge. The ending is ingenious, where the father who has been harmful to the kid all the time realizes how precious each little kid actually is and realizes how much important children are than money poorly gained.

***********.

The story rises in a natural and very classical fashion, finally leading to a terrific ending punctuated with irony and with the kind of sharp realizations you see in great films by men like Peter Weir. Movies like this are always right up my alley....a single protaganist, a strong dilemma, a steady build and sharp smart conclusions.

Director Gabriele Salvatores leads the show with a strong hand and great visuals. usually traditional in his setups, he still knows when to use a steadycam, and infuses each scene with great color. Another pleasure of watching movies from other countries is that, unlike attention starved Americans, they have not yet edited them in a blender to the point of being unrecognizable.

Writing more here is past the point of diminishing returns, as I would spoil all the surprising relationships and discoveries along the way, but suffice it to say that this movie comes highly recommended.