''Baarìa'' is a 2009 Italian
historical drama film
A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction such as c ...
directed by
Giuseppe Tornatore
Giuseppe Tornatore (born 27 May 1956) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the directors who brought critical acclaim back to Italian cinema.Katz, Ephraim, "Italy," ''The Film Encyclopedia'' (New York: HarperRes ...
. It was the opening film of the
66th Venice International Film Festival in September 2009.
Although selected as the Italian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
82nd Academy Awards, it was not nominated.
Plot
The film recounts life in the Sicilian town of
Bagheria (known as Baarìa in
Sicilian), from the 1930s to the 1980s, through the eyes of lovers Peppino (Francesco Scianna) and Mannina (Margareth Madè).
A Sicilian family depicted across three generations: from Cicco to his son Peppino to his grandson Pietro. Touching lightly on the private lives of these characters and their families, the film evokes the loves, dreams and disappointments of an entire community in the
province of Palermo over five decades: during the
Fascist period, Cicco is a shepherd who finds time to pursue his passion: books, epic poems, the great popular romance novels. In the days when people go hungry and during World War II, his son Peppino witnesses injustice by ''
mafiosi'' and landowners. He becomes a
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
. After the war, he encounters the woman of his life. Her family opposes the relationship because of his political ideas, but the two insist on marrying. They have children and raise their family.
Subplots include one about a boy running an errand, a living fly locked inside a
top
Top most commonly refers to:
* Top, a basic term of orientation, distinguished from bottom, front, back, and sides
* Spinning top, a ubiquitous traditional toy
* Top (clothing), clothing designed to be worn over the torso
* Mountain top, a moun ...
, three rocks people try to hit in one throw, a man mutilating himself to avoid having to fight in the war, looting while the
U.S. invades Sicily, making clothing from an American parachute, and Peppino's daughter calling her father a fascist for not allowing her to wear a
mini-skirt
A miniskirt (or mini-skirt, mini skirt, or mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt ...
.
Running through the film is the main subplot, related to the history of the Italian left, especially the
Communist Party, of which Peppino is a lifelong member. It charts his fight against injustice and eventual disillusionment in the face of corruption and compromise by his fellow politicians.
Production
The film was first announced during the 2007
Taormina
Taormina ( , , also , ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea, incl ...
Film Festival.
The film was shot in both
Bagheria, where Tornatore was born, and in an old neighborhood of
Tunis
Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
,
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
; the latter location used because it could better depict what Bagheria looked like in the early 20th century.
Language
The film exists in two versions, the original in the local Baariotu dialect of
Sicilian and the second dubbed in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
.
Main cast
*
Francesco Scianna as Peppino Torrenuova
*
Margareth Madè as Mannina
*
Raoul Bova as Romano, a reporter
*
Ángela Molina as grown-up Sarina
*
Salvatore Ficarra: Nino Torrenuova
*
Valentino Picone: Luigi Scalìa
*
Enrico Lo Verso as Minicu
*
Luigi Lo Cascio as youngster with
Down syndrome
*
Laura Chiatti as a student girl
*
Giuseppe Fiorello as moneychanger
*
Nicole Grimaudo as Sarina
*
Leo Gullotta
Salvatore Leopoldo "Leo" Gullotta (born 9 January 1946) is an Italian actor, voice actor, comedian and writer. He became known for his role in '' Café Express'' (1980), and has won several David di Donatello awards, the first one being for hi ...
as Liborio
*
Aldo Baglio as the businessman
*
Gisella Marengo as Matilde
*
Luigi Maria Burruano as the pharmacist
*
Nino Frassica as Giacomo Bartolotta
*
Giorgio Faletti as Corteccia
*
Vincenzo Salemme as the chief comedian
*
Tony Sperandeo
Tony Sperandeo (born 8 May 1953) is an Italian actor of cinema and television. Sperandeo is notable for frequently playing the roles of tough characters from his native region, Sicily. As of 2011, he was working on ''La Nuova Squadra'', a police ...
as the farmer
*
Monica Bellucci
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (; born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model who began her career as a fashion model before working in Italian, American, and French films. She has an eclectic filmography in a range of genres and langua ...
as the mason's girl
*
Michele Placido
Michele Placido (; born 19 May 1946) is an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He began his career on stage, and first gained mainstream attention through a series of roles in films directed by the likes of Mario Monicelli and Marco Belloc ...
as an exponent of the PCI
*
Gabriele Lavia as the teacher
*
Paolo Briguglia as the catechist
*
Lina Sastri as Tana
*
Gaetano Aronica as Ciccio Torrenuova
*
Corrado Fortuna as
Renato Guttuso
Reception
Critical response
''Baarìa'' has an approval rating of 55% on
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, based on 11 reviews, and an average rating of 5.4/10.
Nominations and awards
Nominated to the
2010 Golden Globe in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
It was also the Italian entry for the
2010 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film but did not get the nomination.
Controversy
In Italy, the Lega Antivivisezione (an anti-animal cruelty group) has condemned the actual on-screen killing of a cow visible in the Italian trailer. The animal was killed with an iron punch driven in the skull without any pain-relief technique, and then seen bleeding to death while some actors collect and drink its blood.
Such a scene could not have been shot in Italy, because of laws against the unethical treatment of animals in media production. That part of the movie was filmed in Tunisia, where there are no such restrictions.
Thereafter the ENPA (National Association of Animal Protection) demanded the immediate withdrawal of all copies distributed in theatres "to avoid the exposition of minors to such disgusting and fearful images", as the film is rated for an unrestricted audience. Again according to the ENPA, although the scene was filmed in Tunisia thus bypassing the Italian law, after application to the Minister of Justice, the prosecution can still take place in Italy. In October 2009, the ENPA started an international boycott campaign against the film and an
online petition
An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. T ...
asking to revoke the designation of the movie as Italian entry to the Oscars.
Responding to these critics, director Giuseppe Tornatore clarified that the location in Tunisia was not intended to bypass Italian regulations, and that the animal was not specifically killed for the film. The scene was filmed in a local slaughterhouse and the killing was one of the many that take place there every day.
La Stampa (online edition), 30 settembre 2009
See also
*
Italian films of 2009
*
List of submissions to the 82nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
*
List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baaria
2009 films
Sicilian-language films
2000s Italian-language films
2009 comedy-drama films
Films directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
Films set in Sicily
Films scored by Ennio Morricone
Italian comedy-drama films
Animal cruelty incidents in film
Obscenity controversies in film
Advertising and marketing controversies in film
Medusa Film films