I'M NOT SCARED

I'm Not Scared, Gabriele Salvatores' latest film, is seen through the eyes of a child who, wandering through the wheat fields, finds something hidden in a hole in the ground. At first, he is convinced it is a corpse, then, after seeing it move, he becomes convinced it is a kind of zombie, a monster-child, perhaps an "evil" brother, segregated to prevent him from doing harm. In the end, overcoming the fear of approaching him, he understands that it is just a peer who has been kidnapped and hidden, dirty and almost blind from the darkness. The poor prisoner is convinced he is dead, believes that the hole itself is "the place where the dead go." As if that were not enough, the protagonist discovers that his family is involved in the kidnapping and is forced to sleep with a "guest" from Milan (Diego Abatantuono): a shady individual who travels with a suitcase full of only a few clothes and a pistol. Eavesdropping on the adults' conversations, he will learn that the gang is preparing to kill the now inconvenient burden. "I'm Not Scared" is the writing that appears scrawled on the wall of a cave, in elementary block letters, in the first sequence of the film. An underground tracking shot that glides over the small body of the kidnapped boy, barely outlined by the blanket that hides him, then emerging through earth and roots into the blinding light of the wheat fields. "I'm Not Scared" is a phrase to repeat, a useless mantra, when you are so scared. And it is fear that marks Michele's summer: his discovery of the hole, his descent into this little hell to discover the living and tortured body of the peer in captivity, the discovery of having criminal parents, no longer being able to trust the two most important figures: those par excellence reassuring. The rest are the memories of a summer in the large, sun-drenched spaces of the South. The empty fields and courtyards, the bike rides with friends, the slightly cruel games of children, the overflowing nature that surrounds him: sometimes frightening like the crows and pigs "that even eat bones," sometimes reassuring, like the tree that welcomes him among its branches when he is sad. Fear also fills Filippo's days, locked in a dark hole for months, chained, convinced he is dead and has been bad enough to deserve this limbo. Gabriele Salvatores directs his most beautiful and courageous film, starting it with a nearly horror tone, especially in the choice to present, even visually, the prisoner as a zombie brought to life by the imagination of the other child, and continuing it as an anomalous but effective Italian thriller. Thanks to the splendid photography, the excellent acting of the entire cast, and the sure hand of a direction free of virtuosity (but enhanced by long, soft, and heartfelt sequences), I'm Not Scared stands out as the best Italian product of the season. A thriller in which the tension does not dissolve until the end, transforming from the visceral childhood fear of the first act (a horror that draws from the world of fairy tales and peasant superstitions) to the anguish of the second: anguish of someone who has the enemy in the house and would not want to have seen, but cannot refrain from doing the right thing. An intense vision, rich in chills and emotion, also thanks to the vivid 1980s setting. After some artistic (Amnesia at the top of the list) and commercial failures (but Teeth and Nirvana are absolutely worth rediscovering), Salvatores seems to be the last, in the disheartening Italian cinematic landscape, to want to direct original films to export to the general public. The cinematic adaptation of Niccolò Ammaniti's eponymous novel, written with an eye to Stephen King's Stand by Me, has proven to be a winning bet.