Here's a film that starts out seeming like it is going to be pretty predictable - In southern Italy, a boy's family is assassinated by a rival family gang. The boy avoids his family's fate and has a series of narrow escapes while evading capture. The film unfolds this scenario with real skill and economy and as it does we find that it is working on a deeper level - how a child can expiate the crimes of his family and ultimately, how self-sacrifice can lead to redemption.
The director artfully exploits our expectations and flirts with the lachrymose and melodramatic and this only makes his message more powerful as it is revealed. Without giving anything away I can point here to two instances of this at the very beginning of the film. One of the first images is that of a defenceless young lamb followed by a shot of an alert German Shepherd dog. This is quickly moved up to another level when the shepherds are both brutally murdered. Then follows an idyllic scene of young Vito perched in the branches of an olive tree sketching a hawk. The director extends the boy's daydream of flying like the hawk in a saccharine Disney-esque scene that is sharply brought to earth by the reality of his situation. It is a pleasure to watch a film that is so artfully constructed with regard to its symbols and which manages at the same time to tell an engrossing story well.
There are fine performances by everyone involved - the debut performance by Manuel Colao as the boy, Vito, is especially good but he is supported by an excellent cast, well-directed by Carlo Carlei. The dvd is in Italian with subtitles. Well worth watching.
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