Shot in the stunningly beautiful southern Italian landscape, this was a coming-of-age/thriller. A 10 year old boy discovers a child hidden in a hole at an abandoned farm. His interactions with the captive boy develop nicely as he, and we, discover that this is an ongoing kidnapping drama in which all the adults around him are complicit, including his parents. There is a hint of social criticism in a scene where his mother asks him to promise to leave the area as soon as he can...the implication being that if he stays there there is no escape from the mafia's clutches.
The film was taut and gripping until a clumsily conceived and executed deus ex machina resolution ended it abruptly. It seemed like they had originally planned a black ending but were persuaded to change it at the last minute, leaving us with unsatisfying schmaltz.
Too bad. They almost had a classic.
5
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