The Reel Critic

Author: STEPHANIE DOSCH

It's summer 1978, and 10-year-old Michele just wants to be a kid. In the idyllic setting of southern Italy, he and his friends run through the wheat fields and make mischief in their remote village. But when this perfect world is suddenly shattered, Michele soon learns that not everything is as it seems in Gabriele Salvatores' "I'm Not Scared."

It all begins when the kids decide to explore an abandoned house. The leader of the pack dares Michele to walk the beams of the dilapidated old building, and when he jumps out the window on the other side, his younger sister's broken glasses fall out of his pocket. On the way home they realize the mistake, and he goes back for them. But what he finds changes the course of Michele's summer.

In the house's yard, covered with straw and dried grass, is a sheet of corrugated metal. Michele, curious, lifts the sheet to reveal a large, cave-like hole below. The farther he peels back the metal, the more light pours in, and Michele suddenly sees a foot sticking out from beneath a blanket. Shocked, he quickly runs back to his sister and returns home.

Though shaken, Michele's curiosity naturally gets the better of him. The foot, he discovers, belongs to a little boy his own age who is being held captive in the hole. Taking pity, he brings the boy food and water and attempts to befriend him. As Michele continues to investigate, he discovers that the boy's name is Filippo, and that he has been brutally kidnapped.

Unfortunately, this turn of events falls at the time of Michele's father's return home after an extended absence and a visit from one of his father's sinister friends, and soon everyone is a suspect. Michele, with no one to turn to, has to keep his secret inside, but his friendship with Filippo only grows as he visits the captive each day. Michele is eventually found out, however, hurling their world into even more chaos.

Director Gabriele Salvatore, who also directed Oscar-winner "Mediterraneo," creats a beautiful thriller in "I'm Not Scared." The cast of Italian and Spanish actors features unknowns Giuseppe Cristiano as Michele and Mattia di Pierro as Filippo. Cristiano, especially, is quite convincing in his role and certainly garners the audience's sympathy. The film is exquisitely and lovingly photographed, with many stunning shots of the southern Italian countryside bathed in summer heat and light.

Though perhaps not as fast-paced as an American blockbuster, "I'm Not Scared" is nevertheless engaging and compelling as Michele uncovers his tiny village's dirty secrets, and certainly more visually breathtaking.

"I'm Not Scared" is this weeks Hirschfield film and will be shown in Dana Auditorium at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.