"I'm Not Scared"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) STARRING Giuseppe Cristiano as MICHELE Mattia Di Pierro as FILIPPO Aitana Sanchez-Gijon as ANNA Dino Abbrescia as PINO Giorgio Carecci as FELICE Antonella Stefanucci as ASSUNTA R Studio: Miramax Created by: Gabriele Salvatores Back to DVD Review Home |
 |
In “I’m Not Scared,” Michele is a young boy who lives in Southern Italy in 1978. He and his friends are spending the days running through the fields and having the meaningless play that all of us have experienced. However, one day, Michele stays behind at an abandoned shack where they were playing, and discovers another young boy living in a hole.
At first, he’s terrified of the boy, making up twisted fantasies that this is his own brother that his parents have hidden for years. However, he soon learns the truth - that the boy has been kidnapped by the men in the village and is being held for ransom. Michele must learn to understand why his family would be involved in such an act - while he takes compassion on the kidnapped boy against his family’s wishes.
Now, I’m not Italian. I’ve never been to Italy. However, although I grew up in the Columbus, Ohio suburbs, I can still remember what it was like to have the freedom of summer - and what it was like to spend those days running through the park, killing time before school would start in the fall. So, I can definitely relate to the mundane life of a childhood summer, and I can only imagine what finding this secret would do to disrupt the norm.
At it’s heart, “I’m Not Scared” is a story of lost innocence. And while the main character of Michele loses his innocence by witnessing violence and evil within people, he loses even more. He loses the innocent belief that his father is the greatest guy in the world.
All boys grow up idolizing their fathers, at least to some degree. Unfortunately, as we grow older, we learn that our fathers are human, too. They have faults - sometimes huge faults. Our innocence is lost at that point. Fortunately, most of us eventually learn to forgive our fathers for not being supermen - especially when we have kids of our own and know for a fact that we, ourselves, are far from supermen.
In “I’m Not Scared,” Michele has to face his father as the enemy - something that we wish no one would ever have to face. Even worse, Michele sees his mother looking the other way and justifying his father’s actions. But there’s no amount of “you’ll understand when you get older” that is going to heal the damage that is done to Michele.
“I’m Not Scared” is a beautifully crafted film, top to bottom. Sometimes you find a film that’s well acted, but poorly shot - or well written but poorly executed. “I’m Not Scared” manages to be excellent on all marks. Even as an Italian film with subtitles (and no option of English dubbing on the DVD), it’s a powerful film. The actors are spot-on, especially the kids. Modern American cinematographers could take a lesson from this film, considering it’s powerful simplicity without looking like an overproduced music video.
It’s also a great lesson in human nature. There are good people, and there are bad people. There are good men, and there are bad men. There are good kids, and there are bad kids. And in all of these spreads, there are also those in between. Often this is formed early in a person, but it can deteriorate - or be bolstered - by good or bad decisions throughout our lives.
