THE HERMIT

A man wanders through the streets of a small town in Calabria preaching an imminent apocalypse. Held hostage by some, welcomed by others, the man attracts the interest of Giulietti, the owner of a local TV station who intends to use the figure of this hermit to boost his station's ratings during the Christmas period. To do this, he assigns the journalist Michele to investigate the figure of this mysterious individual. "L'eremita" represents Al Festa's return to directing a feature-length genre film, after the thriller "Fatal Frames - Fotogrammi mortali" (1997) and the unique mockumentary "Progetto Sapientia" (2009), which remained unreleased. Al Festa has made a name for himself as a composer and musician (he composed the soundtracks, among others, for "Robowar" by Mattei and "After Death" by Fragasso), but since he directed "Fatal Frames" his name has become associated with the Italian horror world, especially for this film. Today, not many remember that thriller, which in 1997 even won a special award at the Fantafestival in Rome, but over the years it has acquired a cult status, perhaps more for its shaky foundation than for the real quality of the work, which nevertheless boasted a stellar cast with names like Donald Pleasence, Ciccio Ingrassia, Angus Scrimm, David Warbeck, Alida Valli, Linnea Quigley, Rossano Brazzi, and Giorgio Albertazzi. Al Festa's return was also quite anticipated among Italian fans, as his new work, "L'eremita," has been talked about for a long time and its plot is undoubtedly original. The result, unfortunately, is rather questionable because there is absolutely superficial work on the script and a really substantial dose of involuntary humor. But let's proceed in order. "L'eremita" is based on some religious documents that present a quite interesting point of view on the apocalyptic subject, in particular it examines the Apocalypse of John connecting it to the legendary Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (and therefore the Gospels of Matthew and Mark), all linked to predictions about an imminent end of the world with an inevitable wink to the prophecies of the Maya. It is noted that Al Festa, also a screenwriter, has excellent knowledge of the subject, but the events are treated with such confusion and lack of a real logical thread that connects them all that it makes watching the film almost frustrating. First of all, almost two hours are definitely too many for this film, since there is a really exasperating repetitiveness of action and arguments. The plot unfolds through mini-sketches featuring our hermit preaching or the journalist gathering clues, the unity of the story is not perceived, and the various mini-episodes could often be swapped without the plot of the film being affected at all. Furthermore, the story is punctuated by an abnormally large number of scenes that are unnecessary for the narrative economy of the story (a striking example: the scene with the list of the seven deadly sins mimed by the performer Tanya Khabarova), making the redundancy of situations at times really concerning and causing a heaviness in the overall rhythm of the work. The key point of the entire film, moreover, is that the good 90% of those superfluous scenes descend into involuntary ridicule, generated by situations, dialogues, and the acting of the actors. Think of the scene in which the hermit buys the figurines from the old man showing his mercy with a 100 euro bill, or the skit with him playing with the children and then being chased away by an adult just as it would happen in a cartoon. But one could continue citing the incredible dialogue between the hermit and the journalist in which the former invites the latter to his house for Christmas, or the scene with the three prostitutes or even – true gem! – the idea of inserting a character called Madre Pia. The idea of launching a criticism of television journalism, which exploits stories and characters to produce ratings, is certainly good even if not original (think of the excellent work done over thirty years ago by Deodato with "Cannibal Holocaust"), but it is not exploited to the fullest because beyond the character of Giulietti, the others turn out to be strangely too devoted to Catholicism, creating a paradoxical opposition with the intentions. From a purely horror perspective, "L'eremita" stands out for two scenes, the exorcism performed on the possessed Stefania Stella (protagonist of "Fatal Frames") and the final confrontation between good and evil. The exorcism lacks atmosphere and suspense, the actress does not appear credible as demon-possessed, and the frequent facial CGI morphings contribute to ruining everything; the final confrontation, with one having angel wings and the other devil wings, is very brief and, inevitably, manages to be ridiculous. The cast is mediocre, with a decent performance by Mario Di Stefano as the hermit Dank Stuart (unfortunately made less credible by the Jeepers Creepers look and white extensions), accompanied by a Maurizio Nicolosi resembling Maradona, as the journalist Michele, and Diego Verdegiglio, who plays the ruthless director of Channel 66. The only saving grace is the beautiful music by Festa himself. Honestly, avoidable.