{image1}It's hard to beat a good story rendered by a masterful director and Niccolo Ammaniti's script -- co-written by novelist Francesco Marciano -- based on his book of the same name, combined with the formidable skills of director Gabriele Salvatores make "I'm Not Scared," a beautiful but tense film.
Much like his sun-drenched "Mediterraneo," Salvatores draws on a stunning landscape to tell a compelling story. Filmed in Italy's southern province of Potenza, Michele is a 10-year-old boy who lives in a miniscule town that time forgot, which lies crumbling amid a rolling sea of lustrous gold wheatfields, capped by a deep blue sky. Just over the hills lies the sea.
It is summer 1978 and Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) and his little sister Maria (Giulia Matturo) are passing the days on bikes or rolling down the wheat-covered hills with the other kids in town. That is, until one day while playing at a ruined farmhouse, Michele finds a hole in the ground and, in the hole, a hungry, ravaged boy his same age.
The boy, Filippo (Mattia Di Pierro), remains Michele's secret and he sneaks him food and water. Even before he figures out what's going on, he senses that his discovery is something he shouldn't share.
But, he soon finds out that a lot of people around him already know about Filippo. When Sergio, a disquieting "friend" (Diego Abatantuono) of his father Pino (Dino Abbrescia) comes to stay with the family for a few days, Michele works out the whole thing.
Now, can he stand by and watch Filippo be hurt or worse?
Underlying the whole story is the dark mood and the threat of terrorism that colored the lives of Italians throughout the 1970s. Bombings, kidnappings and assassinations were common as the still-nascent democracy struggled to sort itself out, all the while being tinkered with, too, by powers outside the country.
Salvatores and his cinematographer Italo Petriccione deftly capture the story's blend of youthful summer exploration and excitement with the looming dread of Filippo's, and indeed, all of Italy's, predicament. The fields around Melfi are alluring, gorgeous bursts of color but they are inhabited, if you look a little closer, by circling birds of prey and slithering snakes.
"I'm Not Scared" opens Fri., May 21 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
