‘I’M NOT SCARED’
The film is an Italian language film set in the impoverished town of Aqua Traverse in southern Italy during the 1970s. The main characters, Filippo and Michele, are both children. Filippo is the son of a rich business man who has been kidnapped by a gang including Michele’s father. Despite great danger and divided loyalty between his new friend and his own family, Michele decides to try and save Filippo from his fate. The Cultural Context of this movie is to be found in its setting.
It is 1978 during Italy’s ‘Anni di piombo’ a time when Italy was beset by terrorism and kidnapping. This was mostly due to the vast economic inequalities between Italy’s Mezzogiorno (The South) and the rich, industrial North. The General Vision and Viewpoint is overwhelmingly bleak as we watch desperate adults horribly mistreat a child in order to attain money. There are elements of brightness however, in the friendship that blossoms between Filippo and Michele and in the upbeat tone of the closing scenes. In terms of Literary Genre this film is a cinematic treat with Salvatores taking full advantage of film’s capacity
to take long, beautiful sweeping shots of the Italian countryside. The dialogue in this film is in Italian, which for most students is not a language they are fluent in. However, Italian is an extremely emotive language and viewers can easily recognise the emotional undertones to what is being said, and indeed felt, by the characters in a moment-to-moment basis. The use of Italian also makes this film a more realistic experience for the audience as they see and hear the narrative unfold as it would have done in Italy of the 1970s. Viewers also have the added experience of reading subtitles to derive meaning. This can be jarring and make the audience feel a bit detached from the story at the start. But as the narrative unfolds we become used to the subtitles as part of the overall film experience and it decreases in impact. Costume also plays a central role. The choice of flared jeans and vibrant orange, red and blue clothing dates it to the 1970s. Filippo’s costume and makeup is probably the most noticeable of all. His white, ashen skin and pinched, exhausted facial features prove that he has spent a considerable time out of the sunlight as he is trapped underground. This ensures the audience’s sympathy for the kidnapped boy.