Un ragazzo di Calabria

A BOY FROM CALABRIA is a nice story set in one of the most beautiful regions of Italy's south. It is the story of 13-year-old Mimi' (well-played by Santo Polimeno), who achieves earthly ecstasy whenever he is running...and always in bare feet, like his hero, the Ethiopian Abebe Bikila, who won the Olympic marathon in 1960, when this story is set. Mimi's own ambition is to participate in the youth race in Rome, despite the firm opposition of his gruff and slightly insane father who thinks running at all is a time-waster and beats his son to prove the point. Director Luigi Comencini has a tradition of making fine films about children, such as PROIBITO RUBARE and LA FINESTRA SUL LUNA PARK. Gian Maria Volonte', the great Italian actor seen in CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI, plays the boy's bus-driver/mentor Felice. The film is not perfect. It lags here and there and should develop more momentum than it does toward the end. But it is a fine film to show young people studying Italian or Italian culture.