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Overrated

Fresh and Exciting

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An interesting work from Tornatore, while it is no match to his lovely "The Legend of 1900." "Baaria," apart from being autobiographical, is too clichéd (and dumb): A live fly imprisoned inside a wooden top by a blacksmith, apparently lays eggs that develop into another live fly decades later; a man who buys dollars as a trade for a living (shown yelling at public meetings in several scenes as a memory stamp for the lead character and the director) sells pens after the Americans have left Italy; a Leftist who saw "terrifying" things in Russia (in his own words) continues to be in the party... Apart from all this, the two lead actors, Scianna and Made (who was a model in her own right), the lovely Angela Molina, and the graceful Lina Sastri are wonderful to watch. Monica Bellucci, does a wordless cameo topless sex scene, which was totally unnecessary in the development of the film. Morricone was good but not exceptional here. The references to Fellini's "Satyricon", Rosi's "Three Brothers," and the poster of a Raf Vallone film, and a Hollywood film show Tornatore's love for cinema without borders, also evident in his "Cinema Paradiso". Give me "The Legend of 1900" any day--that was Tornatore's best work for me, a work of a mature director.

This is not a movie. This is a string of scenes, many of them photographed with remarkable, original beauty. It's a fresco of life in Southern Italy from the 1920s to the present. But there are far too many individual scenes, and they don't coalesce to form a movie.That doesn't mean that you shouldn't watch it. Quite to the contrary. A lot of it is really remarkably beautiful.But, unlike in Cinema Paradiso, the characters don't really come alive. It is not, unlike that masterpiece, a movie about people. It is a collection of often very beautiful images.A warning: the subtitles were often very hard to read on the copy I had. They did not stand out against the often very bright background.

A Tornatore movie. Seductive, nostalgic, nice, childish. But, in same measure, boring on many slices. That is not very strange. "Baaria" is a confession. Honest, pathetic, impressive. Any detail, any image of shadow is ingredient of this filmed novel about himself. A ethic duty makes the director to tell a story with many faces, baroque clothes, heavy, hush and not sweet. But the key is in final. Twoo boys searching. And looking the essence of theirs run. Small peaces of magic, answers to dusty questions. In this moment, the life of humble communist is more than a page from huge library. It is heart of every hope and beginning of every adventure. "Baaria" is not another "Malena" and it is not phrase from de Sica. It is way to define a poor world as any text of a Franz Kafka. Words who must be lives. Theirs sons, theirs colors or face is more important than a masterpiece. A message in a bottle. Or legend of a warm/cold time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film for the great performances of the two lead actors (only later did I find out they were debutants) and for how well Tornatore brought us a vivid picture of life in Sicily over a period lasting from the 20s to the 80s. We are reminded of just how strong a grip fascism had over Italy in the early parts of the 20th century, and how the average Italian had little power to offer an alternative. Sicily is depicted as a place of poverty, corruption and confusion. Life is tough and for many it's only their faith or their ideals that keep them going. The star character is a man that does not lie down easily to the fascist influence, challenging the system with little success, taking a few beatings along the way. He marries a local girl that was destined to marry into the rich and fascist way of life, bearing many children and leading as pure a life as possible given the harsh conditions. We come to understand why socialism and communism has a strong following in southern Italy. This is the story of one man's fight to raise a family with dignity, as a political activist hoping to make things better for the common people of his town, requiring heaps of courage given the dangers of speaking out against fascism in those days. Overall the film succeeds although doesn't offer anything I haven't seen before regarding Italian and especially Sicilian life. My vote 8 out of 10