I'm Not Scared

[See IMDb main page for this movie for cast credits-none are known outside Italy]

"I'm Not Spoiled" has enjoyed enormous European success and is being screened at art cinemas in the U.S. Shot in a bleak and desolate part of Italy where tourists are never expected, this story of a family thirty or so years ago is seductively engrossing. All is not what it seems. There is both mystery and madness.

Michele, a young boy about ten or so years old, plays with his sister and a small group of friends in empty fields and among ruins of once well-maintained farm houses, now mute ruins. There is no town as such and the only store seems to have few goods or customers.

Michele's father returns from somewhere and he's both loving and hectoring, bestowing presents and admonitions and allowing the two little kids to beat him in arm wrestling. He appears to be a fairly typical Italian paterfamilias, a nice guy. Mom is likable too.

Exploring a vacant, decrepit house Michele discovers a chained and brutalized boy his own age. Confined to a hole in the ground and blinded by any sunlight, the child is clearly a victim of some awful crime. Michele provides sustenance for the kid but makes no effort to alert anyone to the boy's predicament. And that's fortunate because the balance of the film deals with Michele's growing understanding of why and how this angelic-appearing child in white has been kidnapped and chained in a dank hole.

Michele makes a slow journey to a reluctant and frightened maturity as he begins to understand what is going on. As with so many children, he recognizes that grownups upon whom he depends may be more than they seem to be and much of what they are isn't very nice.

The acting, especially by the two young boys and Michele's sister, is convincingly real, free of affect. Much of the cinematography emphasizes the loneliness of a bypassed-by-prosperity region but the director, unfortunately, succumbed to some mannerized filming. Closeups of small field creatures are shots which add nothing to the story and inject a contrived artificiality.

Not many films successfully center a mysterious and terrifying predicament as a way of exploring children's emotional lives. "I'm Not Scared" does.

8/10

To me this is one of the best movies I've ever seen. A sort of a thriller, miles away from a Hollywood thriller and yet the suspense builds up every other scene, relentlessly, but peacefully.

Sunny (we are amid miles of golden wheat, where these children run with their bicycles unknowingly towards their destiny . There is no rush or heart pounding mystery, but it gets your interest fully from the very beginning with the title presentation.

The beautiful photography shows us at its best the enormous extensions of ripe wheat, ready to be collected, and the patterns the wind creates by playing with it. This field plays a fundamental role in the development of the story.

I don't see the close ups of different field little animals as negatively as Ralph Michael Stein says in his previous review. To me not only they are very interesting to see --at least one of them was totally unknown to me, city dweller that I am-- but they add a certain naivetè, like a certain magic, part of a child's view of the most common things.

Besides they establish the location, a rural one, where little animals are usual things, so much so that our 10 year old boy never looks at them. He saw them too many times to be surprised by them, as we could be. All the children are spectacular actors, the two main characters specially, and maybe because of that, they take much of the screen time. The rest of the cast as perfect as real people. The movie develops into a more and more complex crucible due to the human intervention, always unpredictable and usually determining catastrophic decisions.

The extreme close ups --one eye only, etc.-- are very effective to emphasize whatever is going on in the brain of that character. The script is superb, the direction also. The music fantastic --some of it Vivaldi, no less!--.

Extremely watchable and entertaining.

Perceptible drama filmed with sensitivity and good feeling . Sensational film that dispenses a brooding plot and considered to be one of the best Italian films of the 2000s , in fact was voted one of the best pictures by professionals and critics . Well directed film by Gabriele Salvatores , including a stirring story and screenplay by Niccolò Ammaniti , who tried to create an agreeable flick plenty of sensitivity and metaphor by tackling a description about a bright ten-year-old boy who finds several surprises on his early life . In southern Italy, Michele , a fine little boy , along with his friends visit an old rotten house on the outskirts of their small Italian village . Michelle (Giuseppe Cristiano , director Salvatores interviewed nearly 600 boys for the part , ultimately settling for novice Giuseppe, the son of a Fiat car worker) nearly meets another boy chained in a basement hidden outside his village, but fears to speak of it . Putting together what he learns from television, he starts dealing with the blind boy, his own parents , and a series of unexplained visiting strangers such as Sergio (Diego Abatantuono) , with a high-profile kidnapping that has the entire nation on edge . As Michelle lives with a dysfunctional as well as impoverished family formed by his intimate mother Anna (Aitana Sánchez Gijon) , father Pino (Dino Abbrescia) and brother . Michelle hearing behind doors and he aware horrible happenings . He is so interested in these mysteries that exacerbate his ingenuity and imagination . As Michelle begins to investigate all the secrets of people visit his home , of his family and their stories , but he finds out a terrible conclusion . Who can you trust when everyone's a suspect ?

It's a brilliant and touching story although sometimes is slow moving and tiring but is developed with intelligence and sensibility . In the picture are treated ethics and morals themes narrated with great sense of fairness and ductility . This is an intense as well as sensitive drama dealing with a little boy who meets another filthy, incoherent kid locked into a cellar , where is kept prisoner . A coming-of-age tale in which he discovers the sense of life about dark family secrets, friendship and compassion . This slow-moving and intelligent picture is well set in Southern Italy of the 70s . This film was loosely based on a true story of a kidnapped boy from Milan and the novella written about the incident . Enjoyable and thought-provoking picture starred by a phenomenal little actor , Giuseppe Cristiano . Sensitive film full of feeling , haunting mood-pieces , wonderful scenes and sense of wonder . Colorful picture , including marvelous frames , being mostly filmed at Southern Italy and including sunny outdoor scenes . This extraordinary flick spells through intricate patterns of images , sets , sound and color . His style is pretty much dry in the atmosphere as in the fresh dialog , as well as realistic , and including pleasant elements as when the little boy runs on the cereal countryside ."I'm Not Scared" is one of Tornatore's undisputed masterpieces and fundamental in his filmography where shows efficiently an interesting story and shot at the height of his creativity , with some peculiar characters , as the main starring boy , his lovely mummy magnificently performed by the Spanish Aitana Sánchez Gijon and the grudge visitor well played by Diego Abatantuono . Splendid , luxurious photography with juicy atmosphere is reflected on the marvelous outdoors in the country by cameraman Italo Petriccione , Salvatores's usual , being shot on location in Apulia, and Basilicata, Italy . As the film is mainly told from a child's point of view, director Gabriele Salvatores instructed his director of photography Italo Petriccione to shoot most of the film at a child's height.

This is a Italian/Spanish co-production perfectly financed by magnificent producers as Spanish Miguel Menéndez de Zubillaga of ¨Piedras¨ , ¨Amnesia¨, ¨Utopia¨ , ¨Camaron¨ as Italian ones such as Maurizio Totti , Stabilini and Riccardo Tozzi . The motion picture was stunningly realized by Gabrielle Salvatores . He was born in 1950, Naples, Campania, location where he often shoots his films . He is a very good Italian movies director ; Tornatore is a well recognized filmmaker both nationally and internationally, and in proof of it he won many prizes in several Festivals . The constant theme of his movies is the escape from the problems of the modern world and the most of his movies include philosophical themes . Almost always casts Diego Abatantuono ; frequently also casts Sergio Rubini . Longtime companion of Rita Rabassini , she's the former wife of Diego Abatantuono, who acted in many of Gabriele's movies and is a close friend . Among his most important films are ¨Nirvana¨ , ¨Amnesia¨ , ¨Educazione ¨Siberiana¨, ¨Marrakech Express¨ ,¨ Quo Vadis baby ¨ , his successful and Oscarized ¨Mediterraneo¨ and of course this ¨I'm not scared¨ . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .

In the field in the country of Italy, the ten years old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) accidentally finds a weird boy in a hole in an abandoned farmhouse. He gives water and feeds the boy; he finds his name, Fillipo (Mattia Di Pierro), they are of the same age and Michele becomes his friend. In his innocence, Michele finds the nasty secret hidden by his family about Fillipo.

"Io non ho Paura" was a great surprise for me. I have just watched this movie and I did not have any information about this original and sensitive low paced story of innocence and compassion. The screenplay is perfect, developing the characters and disclosing the secrets through the innocent eyes of a ten years old boy, having a sensational plot point, in a wonderful landscape and a very sentimental soundtrack. The direction and the cinematography are remarkable, and when Michele rides his bicycle at night, we can see the night creatures in the fields. The performances of Giuseppe Cristiano, in a beautiful and morally strong character, and Mattia Di Pierro, in the role of a defenseless victim, are awesome. This awarded "Io non ho Paura" is an unforgettable gem to be discovered by lovers of a great cinema. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Eu Não Tenho Medo" ("I Have No Fear")

I personally really like movies that portray childhood the way I remember it--kids doing kid-like activities and adventures, summers with free time to wander and explore, and seeing the way kids think. They don't quite see things as adults do. The kids in the movie were quite realistic.

I think that Michele, the main character has more awareness and sympathy for people than most kids as evidenced by the stories he writes and reads to his sister. After he finds a child in a hole in the ground he writes a story about a child hidden away. Yet he reacts like a child in that he doesn't realize that there is something illegal going on, at least at first. The story unfolds slowly but steadily.

Because this movie is about kids and some suspicious people (Michele's father and friends)and the story is not written with a formula, there is an added dimension to the element of unpredictability.

I truly was inspired by the cinematography showing the idyllic scenes of the summer and wheat fields of Italy, including the insects and wildlife. I really liked the scene with the three threshers approaching Michele as he was crossing the fields. This scene also made us aware of the passing of time and probably summer soon ending. Also, there is, as there in many neighborhoods, a grumpy scary person (the hog farmer) who adds to the atmosphere of unpredictability.

The music is absolutely wonderful. And it is not just the music, but also listen to the skill of the musicians. Just because it is a string quartet playing, don't think it's boring.

In summary, this is a suspenseful, beautiful movie.