Lamerica
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Movie Reviews of Lamerica
Movie Review: Lamerica
Summary: 5 Stars
Made at the height of the Albanian refugee crisis, Amelio's absorbing drama is a nightmarish vision of poverty, conflict, and despair in post-Communist Europe's most isolated nation. As Gino is systematically stripped of every luxury item and form of identification he possesses by the ruthless people he encounters, the irony of his situation becomes crystal clear, especially when brash exploiter-turned-weary refugee Gino (Lo Verso in an exquisite, haunting performance) joins a wave of migrants hoping to sneak across the border to the West--and a better life. Visually striking and genuinely moving, "Lamerica" is an unforgettable look at a land devastated by dictatorial politics and world neglect, and those desperate to leave.Movie Review: They should open an acting school
Summary: 5 Stars
This will be brief, seeing how others have gone into great detail. Yeah, there's good photography. Great scenes. Good plotting. But the key here is the acting. It is wow and double wow. The two leads are just jaw-droppingly good. These parts would be so easy to overact and spoil. The heroes (anti-heroes?) tread the line perfectly... showing enough emotion, but not over-doing it. It's just a pleasure watching them. It should be a training film for young actors in the making.Movie Review: brilliant !!
Summary: 5 Stars
The tragedys of poverty runs through this film which is set against a compelling background of documentary realism.There is an unexpected unforgetable dance improvisation by a young girl. It is also strewn with poignant incidental humour. Meaningfull enjoyable this is a must see.Movie Review: Modern neo-realist cinema
Summary: 4 Stars
Updating the Italian neo-realist mode of cinema, director Gianni Amelio's 1994 film, set in Albania, tells the tale of a young Italian con man and his older colleague--the smarter and more experienced of the two--who come to Albania just after the fall of communism in an attempt to basically steal money from the Albanian government with promises of jobs to the incredibly impoverished nation.
To prove they are legit, they need to present to the representatives of the Albanian government a front man who is Albanian, thus who will faithfully represent the interests of his native country. They find him in the person of Spiro Tozai, an older man currently living in the equivalent of a prison camp which, in 1991--the year of the film's setting--apparently still exists, housing almost all elderly men who were formerly, ostensibly, enemies of the state.
The older of the con men, saying he has related business to attend to back in Italy, departs before things really get underway, leaving his younger less experienced partner to handle the presentation of the older man to the Albanian government.
Things do not go as planned.
The older man runs away and the younger Italian has to go out after him. Initially coming to steal from a neighboring country, the young Italian finds himself being stolen from--his car's tires, and his identity, thanks to the government. Soon he's reduced to the same status as his former dupe, the older man. But is the older man who we think he is? Or is he somebody else?
This is a very clever re-working of neo-realist themes and style, updated to post-Communist Albania. One of the more interesting highlights of the film is to see Albanian nuns dressed in the exact same style as the most famous Albanian nun of all, Mother Teresa, administering to the sick and injured.
This is a full two hour film and does take some patience to sit through. But at the same time, it is a film that reveals much with each passing minute. The older man, at first mute, finally begins to speak and we realize he is probably not who we think he is. The younger Italian keeps losing him, then finding him again, and each time this happens, he (the Italian) is in worse trouble than before, and the older man is there to help him, the exact opposite of the initial situation.
This is really a film about innocence and corruption, and how innocence can be reborn in a corrupt man when his own corruption is no match for that of the corruption around him. At the same time, it is a film about expectations, about the "grass is always greener"...The Albanians flee their native country to go to Italy where they are sure life is much better. At the same time, Italians leave their own native country to go to America for the exact same reason. The title of the film is an ironic homage to the place where things will be better, but implicit in the title as well is the subtext of the place where things are just as corrupt as what's being practiced by the two Italians who come to Albania to fleece it of some of its money.
It would not be surprising to discover that the director, Amelio, is a leftist; this is certainly the political leaning that comes across in watching this film. But it's not so much the political leanings that are important as it is the humanity of the main characters, the young Italian and the older man. Even after almost getting suffocated by Albanian kids, the older man still retains his dignity and kindness--something most people would find it hard to do. On the other hand, the younger man changes his perspective--from a slick, greedy con man to someone totally lost in a foreign culture whom hope has abandoned.
A thought-provoking film, Lamerica deserves to be seen for its rich characterizations and its masterful recreation of the neo-realist style.
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