Der Wind zieht seinen Weg

Underrated would be the main qualification for this splendid movie.

It's a pity that our taste has been ruined by the avalanche of movies made with the technique used for TV commercials --superfast cutting almost to the point of never assimilating the scene, it goes by so fast-- and of course, accompanied by guns, shooting, blowing people and vehicles all over the screen, violence being the most important factor in practically every film.

This time we are confronted with a very different product. This movie starts very quietly --directed very evenly by Giorgio Diritti-- a car drives through gorgeous sceneries --Italy, the Piamonte region-- valleys, mountains, incredibly majestic setting, and a zigzagging road bordering a deep abyss, and we are introduced to a couple of natives within the car, discussing the selling or renting of one of the properties in this small village --Ussolo, within the valley Maira-- that once, in 1900 had 1.000 inhabitants and nowadays no more than 50? to a french cheese maker.

At first the quite old natives are very enthusiastic about the new arrival, since the village is almost dead --everybody left it long ago to look for better lives in faraway places-- and they make plans, thinking that the cheese maker could be a good addition to the summer months when the tourists will come (In winter the weather is very bitter and the snow covers everything).

The film develops this idea starting with a very moving reception from the natives to the newcomers from France --only this couple are professional actors: Thierry Toscan and Alessandra Agosti-- but everybody else in this movie is as good an actor as anybody you could think of-- and slowly but surely incidents start building up and greed, envy and the worst feelings in human beings start to raise their ugly heads.

Excellent development, excellent camera work and excellent everything! If you saw "Stromboli" with Ingrid Bergman --Rosellini directing-- this film has an approximation in its story to that one, that is, the main characters are driven out of the village because if they remain, their lives will become hellish.

It's very impressive the way one notices the gradation of moods changing from good to nasty. And when I say nasty, I mean NASTY.

To me, this is a jewel of the Italian cinema, but unfortunately, a totally noncommercial production. The film is in Italian and the particular dialect (Occitane) of this place --very difficult to understand, so much so that when they speak it, the subtitles in Italian translate the meaning TO ITALIANS!

If you expect a Hollywood movie or professional acting, this film is not for you. But if you leave behind all your expectations about this beautiful film by an unknown Italian director played almost entirely (except for the leading role) by non-professional actors, you will enjoy it until the very last second. This film is special also because it portraits the life of a people, that of an Occitan-speaking village in the Italian Alps, which rarely finds its place in modern mass media. Tradition is for these people what holds them together. Diritti challenges their - and our - definition of tradition, by showing that the locals fail to understand that the stranger, who practices the same way of life that was once widespread in those mountains, has something to teach them about their own identity. Brilliant.

Now tell me: how did you feel after this movie? You must be true. I felt really guilty because I live daily similar situations: everybody thinks that those immigrants who work really hard are dirty, nasty, killers, thieves, rapers, robbers. I have to admit, when I hear all those prejudices I start feeling bad, because they, not, we always forget they're human beings, just like us. Let's come back to the film. Here the stranger doesn't come from Albania, but from France. He's a shepherd (former high school teacher), he's married with three children and he produces cheeses. But he will be emarginated, no matter if he's honest or so. He's a stranger, he brings an hope to a dying village, so he must be emarginated, according to the village's inhabitants. Even the most open-minded ones won't accept completely the French family. Will there be a hope, a light? I don't want to spoil the movie for you, but I can only recommend it because it makes you harm, but then you have to thank it because it made (or tried to make) you a better person.

"Il vento fa il suo giro" looks at reality from a very interesting perspective. His look is participating, emotional but at the same time clear, thanks to a direction focuses on the close-up of actors.

It's a touching story about how difficult is the path to integrate a new family within the tissue of a small village up on the Occitan Alps.

The most important aspect of the movie is the rejection of every well established in advance schema. The outcome is a work clearly not accommodating that point the finger to intolerance and desire to growth a new society balance between tradition and innovation.

Most of the actors are not professionals; as a matter of fact they are part of the production team. Because there is no formal funding to the movie everyone co-produced the film and will share the profit, if any.

A very interesting story, a robust screenplay with a inspired director: two thumbs up.