MALÈNA
****1/2 out of *****

Genre
Drama
Romance
World War II

2000
Directed by
Giuseppe Tornatore
Written by
Giuseppe Tornatore
Luciano Vincenzoni (story)
Cast
Monica Bellucci .... Malena Scordia
Giuseppe Sulfaro .... Renato Amoroso
Luciano Federico .... Renato's Father
Matilde Piana .... Renato's Mother
Pietro Notarianni .... Professor Bonsignore
Gaetano Aronica .... Nino Scordia
Gilberto Idonea .... Avvocato Centorbi
Angelo Pellegrino .... Segretario politico
Gabriella Di Luzio .... Mantenuta del Barone
Pippo Provvidenti .... Dott. Cusimano

Filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore best known work is his Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso (1990, Best Foreign Language Film). Since then Tornatore has continued to create interesting and beautiful cinema, and Malèna is no exception.

Malèna is a coming-of-age story about an adolescent boy Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro) who is growing up in a southern Italian town during World War II. Renato, along with the entire male population of the town have a lust-like obsession with the town’s most beautiful woman, Malèna (Monica Bellucci). But it is apparent from the beginning that Malèna is also a victim of her natural beauty through harsh gossip from the jealous women of the town, wonderfully exaggerated by Tornatore. His take on these women is a direct manifestation of envy.

Renato, out of sheer pubesant curiosity begins to spy on her, following her around and peeking through her windows at night. At first she is just an object to satisfy his urges, he later begins to see what others in the town do not, that there is a sadness behind her eyes and begins to discover the secrets that drive her inner desperation. To make matters worse, her husband a solider fighting in the war is far away and her father Professor Bonsignore (Pietro Notarianni) is a deaf teacher scolded by his students as they yell obscenities at him which he cannot hear.

After discovering her secrets, Renato becomes her invisible protector. But once the news of her husband's death is known, every male vies for her attentionand Malèna gets into trouble without having done a single wrong. Through sinister gossping she becomes known as a whore and a slut who is trying to steal the men of the town from their wives. Until the women of the town eventually inflict a barbaric attack on Malèna that provokes her departure.

The cast of Malèna perform wonderfully. For a child actor Giuseppe Sulfaro's portrayal of Renato is handled with a certain kind of charm, and Monica Bellucci is cast perfectly, although her character does not have much dialogue in the film, her performance has a depth to it that one would generally associate with a more experienced actor.

As for how the film looks, Cinematographer Lajos Koltai has done a stunning job of capturing southern Italy's magnificent textures, colours and natural locations on film. For this achievement Koltai was honoured with an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography in 2001. And what Italian film wouldn’t be complete without a score by the great Ennio Morricone? His score is wonderfully composed and fits the film perfectly, immediately transporting the viewer to 1940s Italy. Morricone received a well deserved Oscar nomination for this piece of work, as well.

Overall this was simply a joy to watch, a stunningly crafted film from one of Italy's top filmmakers. Highly recommended, but be warned, this film is not for kids...adults only.

Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here.

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