Il ladro di bambini
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''The Stolen Children'' ( it, Il ladro di bambini) is a 1992 Italian film directed by Gianni Amelio. The film was selected as the Italian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.


Plot

11-year-old Rosetta and 9-year old Luciano live with their mother in the housing projects of Milan. Internal migrants from Sicily, they face prejudice in their adopted city. Their mother is unemployed and their father has long since abandoned them. For the past two years, the mother has hired her daughter out as a prostitute. The authorities raid the place and arrest the mother and a client. The children are destined to be sent to a Catholic orphanage in Civitavecchia, near Rome. Two carabinieri, the rookie Antonio and an older man named Grignani are assigned the thankless task of escorting the children there by train. Grignani walks out on Antonio at Bologna, leaving Antonio to complete the task alone. The children are unruly, often fighting or running off in different directions. Luciano is sickly, doesn't eat much and rarely speaks. Rosetta is cynical, rebellious and manipulative. When they arrive at the orphanage, the priest in charge tells Antonio that the children cannot stay because Rosetta's medical record is missing. Antonio suspects that they are using this as a pretext because of her background as a prostitute. Antonio calls Grignani at the number he provided and explains the situation, but Grignani is no help. Rather than contact his superiors for further instructions and expose his partner's misconduct, Antonio naively decides to take matters into his own hands and bring the children to another institute in their native Sicily. His plan immediately runs into problems when Luciano has an asthma attack on the way to the train station, causing them to miss the train. They spend an awkward night at the bachelor pad of a carabiniere acquaintance of Antonio's. After a long train and coach journey, the trio arrive unannounced at Antonio's sister's home in
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, which doubles as a restaurant. There they celebrate a young girl's
First Communion First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communi ...
. Antonio tells his family that Rosetta and Luciano are the children of one of his superiors. Given a stylish age-appropriate summer dress to wear, Rosetta plays and socializes with other girls her age, while Luciano is befriended by Antonio's grandmother, who gives him a photo of a six-year-old Antonio in a Zorro costume. Their fun, however, is short-lived as one of the guests at the party recognizes Rosetta from an article in a tabloid magazine and exposes her past to the other guests. Rosetta, humiliated and ashamed, dashes from the house. Antonio runs after her and comforts her, saying the woman is an idiot and it doesn't matter what she thinks. Antonio has cracked through Rosetta's tough exterior and now feels a genuine sense of compassion for her and her brother, rather than a simple sense of duty. Antonio, who has acquired an old
Fiat 128 The Fiat 128 is a transverse front-engine, front wheel drive small family car manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1969 to 1985 as a two- or four-door sedan, three- or five-door station wagon as well as two- or three-door coupé. The 128 runni ...
, agrees to remove Rosetta from the place immediately, and drives them to the ferry terminal at the Strait of Messina. On the ferry, he finally has a conversation with Luciano. Rather than driving directly to the orphanage in Gela, he takes another detour, taking them to a cheap hotel near
Marina di Ragusa Marina di Ragusa, also known as ''Mazzarelli'', is a southern Italian village and hamlet (''frazione'') of Ragusa, a municipality seat of the homonym province, Sicily. In 2011 it had a population of 3,468, which during the summer rises to more t ...
where he rents two adjoining rooms. The next day, they visit the beach, where he teaches Luciano to swim, forming a close bond with him. There, they meet two young French women, who take a liking to Rosetta. The five of them drive to Noto and visit the
Noto Cathedral Noto Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale di Noto; La Chiesa Madre di San Nicolò) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Noto in Sicily, Italy. Its construction, in the style of the Sicilian Baroque, began in the early 18th century and was completed in 1776. It ...
. One of the tourists gives Rosetta her camera, which is then snatched from her. Antonio chases down the thief and arrests him, taking him to the local Carabiniere station. At the station, one of the tourists learns of the background of the children, and insensitively talks about it with her friend. When Rosetta overhears the word "prostitute" her friendly demeanour towards the women instantly disappears. Antonio is accused of kidnapping and abusing the children, and failure to follow orders. He is forced to hand in his warrant card pending a court martial. After several hours they are all released. Antonio drives the children to Gela late into the night. Upset at the probable loss of his career, he says very little during the journey. Having nearly reached their final destination, Antonio pulls over to an abandoned block where all three of them fall asleep in the car. The children wake up at early dawn, and walk off to the side of the road, where they sit together and talk about their future in the orphanage.


Cast

*
Enrico Lo Verso Enrico Lo Verso (born 18 January 1964) is an Italian actor. He studied acting at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and ''INDA, Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico''. Filmography * ''Atto di dolore'' (1990) * '' A Season of Giants'' (1990) ...
- Antonio * Valentina Scalici - Rosetta * Giuseppe Ieracitano - Luciano *
Florence Darel Florence Darel (born in 1968) is a French actress. Early life Darel was a pupil of Maurice Sarrazin, the creator of the Grenier de Toulouse, at his Parisian theater school Le Grenier-Maurice Sarrazin. Career Personal life Darel's husband is ...
- Martine * Marina Golovine - Nathalie * Fabio Alessandrini - Grignani * Agostino Zumbo - Priest * Vitalba Andrea - Antonio's Sister * Massimo De Lorenzo - Papaleo * Celeste Brancato - Girl at Dinner * Vincenzo Peluso - Carabiniere * Santo Santonocito - Carabiniere * Renato Carpentieri - Chief of Police * Maria Pia Di Giovanni - Mother of Rosetta and Luciano * Lello Serao - Arrested Man


Production

The producers originally wanted to cast
Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...
in the lead role, with Enrico Lo Verso's southern Italian accent dubbed over, but director Gianni Amelio insisted that Lo Verso was perfect for the role. Influenced by the Italian neorealist cinematic tradition, Amelio cast non-actors for the majority of the roles, including the two child leads. Adding to the sense of authenticity, all filming was done on location. Principal photography began on May 6, 1991, and ended on September 12, 1991. The Italian title ''Il ladro di bambini'' literally translates as "The child thief", an ironic reference to the fact that in taking the children on an unauthorised journey, Antonio has technically kidnapped them. It is also a nod to Vittorio de Sica's neorealist classic ''
Ladri di biciclette ''Bicycle Thieves'' ( it, Ladri di biciclette; sometimes known in the United States as ''The Bicycle Thief'') is a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It follows the story of a poor father searching in post-World War ...
''.


Reception

The film was number one at the Italian box office for seven weeks and grossed $7.5 million. In the United States and Canada it grossed nearly $1 million. It received almost universal critical acclaim;
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave it 4 stars out of 4, saying "Here is a movie with the spontaneity of life; watching it is like living it." In the 2012 '' Sight & Sound'' poll of the greatest films of all time, '' Cineastes Gary Crowdus included ''Il ladro di bambini'' in his top 10 list.Analysis: The Greatest Films of All Time 2012, Gary Crowdus
Sight & Sound


Awards

*
1992 Cannes Film Festival The 45th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1992. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Den goda viljan'' by Bille August. The festival opened with ''Basic Instinct'', directed by Paul Verhoeven and closed with ''Far and Away'', directed by Ro ...
-
Grand Prize of the Jury The Grand Prix is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films. It is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d'Or, and it replaced the Special Jury Priz ...
, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury * European Film Awards - Best Film * 6
David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award cat ...
- Best Film, Best Director, Best Producer, Best Editing, Best Music, Special David for their child acting (Giuseppe Ieracitano & Valentina Scalici ) * 2 Nastro d'Argento - Best Director, Best Screenplay * The film was nominated for the prestigious
Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...
of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics.


See also

* List of submissions to the 65th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film * List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stolen Children 1992 films 1990s drama road movies Italian drama road movies 1990s Italian-language films Films about child abuse European Film Awards winners (films) Films set in Milan Films set in Calabria Films set in Sicily Films directed by Gianni Amelio The Samuel Goldwyn Company films 1992 drama films Cannes Grand Prix winners