Lamerica

Gianni Amelio's "Lamerica" opens with footage of Mussolini's takeover of Albania in 1939, turning it into a vassal state. But the rest of the movie shows a different kind of takeover, with a pair of Italian scam artists going to Albania in 1991 hoping to set up a swindle, only to find out that conditions there won't make it so easy.

I understand that the movie poses the question of what constitutes "Italian-ness", as plenty of people in Italy have non-Italian ancestry (including Albanian). But more important is what became of Albania. Completely cut off from the rest of the world under autocrat Enver Hoxha (referenced in Spike Lee's "Inside Man"), it opened up in the 1990s, only to become a near-third world state. From what I understand, it's only been in the 21st century that Albania's been able to make any progress. No wonder this movie's protagonist experiences what he does.

It's not a great movie, but worth seeing.

This Italian film is actually set behind the fall of dictatorship in Albania, a country once part of Soviet rule.

LoVerso's part in the movie as one of the protagonists is wonderfully acted. The first film I had seen him in was Il Ladro di Bambini. LoVerso takes his characters and challenges them, creating deep personalities that continue to develop throughout the film.

I would recommend this film solely based on the wonderful acting by all actors in the film.

"Lamerica" takes the audience through the devastation of post-communist Albania as it follows the odyssey of a young Italian man who has come to make some easy money but finds himself caught up in the same curious mix of hopeful despair etched into the faces of people he's come to swindle. The film has little plot, the feel of a documentary, and most of the scenes are perfunctory. Nonetheless, "Lamerica" will beg a strange fascination from those who find grizzled realism interesting.

I just finished watching this film and it brought back to me memories of my life in Albania. the film is very precise in it's description of life in our poor land after the riots and the exoduses that occurred in the early '90s. I was lucky myself not to have gone through what most people go through during this film but I can identify with some of it. even though the film focuses more on the italian businessman, the struggle for survival that most Albanians had to go and still have to is quite clear. this film should be watched by all interested in understanding why people have to abandon their homelands. this is a perfect example and should open eyes to many.

I thought this was an incredible film with a story that was in many ways simple, yet complex in dealing with redemption. An Italian swindler goes to Albania to make a few quick lire, only to get swallowed up by the depth of the Albanian situation.