La Califfa

A very interesting film from the perspective of the author's relationship to his work - in this case specifically the relationship of the writer (Bevilacqua wrote dozens (!) of works in his lifetime, from prose to poetry, see, for example, the Italian Wikipedia), who is turning to film for the first time. The result is surprisingly awkward. The music often accompanies the scenes loudly, which gives them a melodramatic tone, while other times it abruptly stops and complete silence sets in, leaving us wondering whether this is an intentional effect of the director's style or not. Similarly, the construction of the relationship between the factory owner and the worker is composed of many ellipses and hints, and once again we must decide whether it was intentional or an unintended effect. These flaws, however, do not diminish the value of the basic skeleton of the story - the struggles of the striking workers against the organization of the industrialists, capturing a modern tragedy where no one can escape their position (and function) in social relationships, just as the ancient heroes could not escape their destiny. We can be pleased that Bevilacqua successfully overcame the initial childhood illnesses of filmmaking in his subsequent films (and from the mere three films that I have seen, he achieved at least one with a truly unique film poetics - Woman of Wonders (1985)). (15.02.2014)