The child’s point of view often lends
a special combination of innocence and insight to narrative, which explains its
use by writers like Mark Twain, Henry James, Graham Greene, and William
Faulkner. Even when it concentrates on children, the cinema, however, generally
shows children from an adult perspective. The subjects are often drenched in
buckets of syrup, as in Song of the South,
say, or The Secret Garden, as if
children regarded the world with the same mixture of cynicism and
sentimentality as the filmmakers.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Once
in a while, a movie honestly and successfully examines the complexity of the
child’s world from the child’s point of view. Examples are The Night of the Hunter, Lord
of the Flies, The Go-Between, or
in the present instance, the new Italian film, I’m Not Scared.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย It
is directed and co-written, oddly enough, by Gabriele Salvatores, whose
previous work, like the Oscar winner Mediterraneo,
tends toward the comedic. The picture confronts, in a deceptively simple
manner, the familiar theme of a child’s loss of innocence. This time it is
accompanied by a kind of transcendent sacrifice.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Set
in some tiny, unnamed spot in a rural area of Southern Italy in the summer of
1978, I’m Not Scared develops through
and around the personality of a ten-year-old boy named Michele (Giuseppe
Cristiano), who witnesses and ultimately suffers the inexplicable cruelty of
the adult world.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
initial sequences carefully establish Michele as a kindhearted and courageous
little boy, which foreshadows the path his later actions will follow. Michele
accidentally discovers a hidden basement of some kind near the abandoned house
where he and his friends play their occasionally dangerous games.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Pulling
aside the cover, he sees a foot protruding from beneath a blanket, which
frightens him into running away. His curiosity eventually overcomes his fear,
and he returns to find a wretched, filthy boy of his own age imprisoned in the
dark hole, chained to a stake and suffering from thirst and hunger.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Michele
smuggles food and water to the boy and tries to solve the mystery of his
presence. Deranged by his confinement, the prisoner claims he is dead and
believes that Michele is his guardian angel. Observing the strange uneasiness
of his mother (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) and father (Dino Abbrescia), and
overhearing his father’s conversations with a group of his friends, Michele
comes to realize that the men have kidnapped the boy, Filippo, and hold him for
ransom (the practice at one time was practically an industry in Italy).
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย As
the relationship between Michele and Filippo, who are the same age, develops,
an inevitable process of identification takes place, suggesting that Filippo is
Michele’s alter ego, another version of himself, cruelly victimized by a
capricious and incomprehensible conspiracy of adults, which of course includes
Michele’s parents. One of the conspirators, through the betrayal of a friend of
Michele’s, discovers the relationship, which sets in motion the terrible,
tragic, and essentially inevitable conclusion of the gang’s and the movie’s
plot.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
director employs the mechanics and some of the substance of the suspense
thriller, along with a hint or two of the horror flick, to generate
considerably more important meanings beyond the familiar shock and excitement.
Michele’s growing awareness of the possibilities of evil in the people he loves
represents a far more profound violence than any of the superficial plot twists
and surprises.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย When
he attempts to rescue Filippo from the death the desperate kidnappers plan, his
actions approach a genuine spirit of transcendence. He symbolically becomes the
angel that Filippo fantasized, in a moment of beautiful and moving sacrifice.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
director handles the child actors with remarkable skill and a minimum of
conscious artfulness, allowing them to seem not at all like professionals but
simply like real children, natural in their occasional awkwardness, their
sullen silences, their transparent emotions. Appearing in his first movie,
Giuseppe Cristiano displays a remarkable talent, expressing a range of emotions
with a minimum of the sort of showy “performing” that characterizes so many
juvenile actors, making Michele both lovable and entirely credible.ย
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Salvatores
also employs the mostly empty rural setting to great effect, using the yellow
fields of wind-whipped wheat where the children play to suggest the summer
heat, the harsh geography, the impoverishment of their lives, but also the
place to which they can escape their parents, the constriction of unjust rules,
the machinations and betrayals they sense even if they do not fully understand.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย He
maintains throughout a consistency of point of view, enabling us to see
everything on Michele’s level, through Michele’s eyes, and thus comprehend his
loss of innocence, the contrast between the child and the adult and the
difference between good and evil.
I’m Not Scared (Io Non Ho Pauro) (R), starring Giuseppe Cristiano, Mattiu Di
Pierro, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Dino Abbrescia, Giulia Matturo, Stefano Biase,
Fabio Antonacci, Fabio Tetta; based on the novel by Niccolo Ammaniti; screenplay
by Niccolo Ammaniti and Gabriele Salvatores; directed by Gabriele Salvatores.
The Little Theatres.
This article appears in Jun 9-15, 2004.
