"ANCHE LIBERO VA BENE"  (2006 Italy)

English title:  "ALONG THE RIDGE"


Rossi Stuart  plays Renato, a freelance cameraman who is manfully bringing up his 11-year-old son Tommi (Alessandro Morace) and Tommi's elder sister Viola (Marta Nobili) in a single-parent family. Clearly a believer in the school of hard knocks, the affectionate but choleric Renato alternates kindness with harsh discipline, obliging his son to compete in swimming races, significantly, an individualistic sport, when what Tommi wants more than anything is to play soccer with his friends.

For the film's first half-hour the children's mother is never mentioned, but then Stefania (Barbora Bobulova) suddenly shows up, imploring her husband's forgiveness for walking out on them and tearfully begging to be allowed to return. We gradually realize that she is fragile and unbalanced, sincere but overly demonstrative in her affections.

Renato grudgingly allows her back, having held a democratic consultation with his children. Tommi too is on his guard. For some weeks the new arrangement appears to be working, but then Stefania once again vanishes, presumably with another man, with devastating effects on the family's emotional economy.

The action is seen through the eyes of Tommi, a sturdy, intelligent boy who has been cast too young into the world of adult emotions and developed a protective shell. He seeks refuge by walking on the roof of his apartment building, the only place he can be alone, observing people across the street through binoculars. His relationship with his father forms the film's axis, and when Renato, abandoned by Stefania, explodes with rage and pain at his son's request to be allowed to go on a skiing holiday with the boy downstairs, calling him a traitor and throwing him out of the house, Rossi Stuart graphically demonstrates the psychic violence that parents are capable of inflicting on their children.

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Please let us know if you get an opportunity to see this one, Zabladowski.  It's the kind of drama, (through the eyes of a boy actor) that so often becomes an incredible film.

When reading the original review, it brings back thoughts of the film, "Second Best", which for some reason seems allusive to the world of dvd.

Can't wait to hear more about this one, and especially for a chance to see it.