CATRIONA PAUL at the movies.

I’M NOT SCARED is based on Niccolò Ammaniti’s novel, which currently features on a 3 for 2 deal at WH Smiths. If you don’t already know the story, so much the better, for this film works on suspense and a surprise finish, without which, you could get bored.
  
I’m Not Scared is a coming-of-age drama set in the sizzling heat of rural southern Italy in the summer of 1978. Ten-year-old Michele, (Giuseppe Cristiano), hangs out with the local kids, led by tough-guy Skull. The gang discover an abandoned, tumble-down farmhouse. Michele, returning alone, discovers a pit. Dreaming of treasure, instead he finds a boy, chained below ground, going both mad and blind.

In keeping with the timeless summer – Michele does not rush to free the boy but gradually befriends him, trying to figure out who put him there and why. The answers lead him disturbingly close to home and to a decision which cuts him loose from the innocence of youth.

The endless fields of swaying wheat, the oppressive heat, the summer without pace – these things give the film its identity but could also make you impatient. Parents snarl at children, heat exhausts every adult and each child looks out for himself. You might be looking for a little joy, but this film would be the wrong place. The idea of the status quo being intolerable is integral to the radical act at the heart of the story.
 
Director Gabriele Salvatores has made a harsh but compelling feature with a redemptive finish. Sop up the beauty of this film; let the drama play out.
  
I’M NOT SCARED (ION NON HO PAURA)
Selected release

Director: Gabriele Salvatores
Writing: Niccolò Ammaniti (novel), Niccolò Ammaniti and Francesca Marciano (screenplay)
Stars: Giuseppe Cristiano, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Giulia Matturro, Mattia Di Pierro, Stefano Biase
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 101
Country: Italy
Year: 2004
 

© Catriona Paul, 2004