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Rating: Dear Fabio Manuel,
I do not have the pleasure of knowing you. Nor you of knowing me.
I cannot say exactly what your geographic extraction or insular socio-cultural background is, but I have a vague impression that you might be Sardinian: nothing escapes me, eh!
I am here to respectfully tell you that it would have made us happy on this side of the cinema screen if this first feature film of yours embodied something that I do not say necessarily enchanted us, but that was at least able to intrigue those who had the patience to dwell on it for almost two hours.
Let me emphasize that the cinematography is sincerely beautiful and you had the prudence to direct your gaze towards those significant portions of scenery and those precise corners of the stubborn island; in short, the intrinsic quality of the images is pleasantly striking. It is also true that the rustic landscapes that backdrop the lethal events of the protagonists (by the way: the dog-on-a-leash slow-motion shots are a bit excessive) are magnetic in themselves, so it did not require being the new Kubrick (not the one with the cube) to capture their raw beauty.
Moreover, I found the exclusive use of the Sardinian language by the actors, with related Italian subtitles for the potential "continental" audience, to be philologically appropriate.
But let's delve into it: after the first quarter-hour (non-academic) of viewing, a slight problem begins to take shape, dear Fabio Manuel: the clear perception of the absence of any solid structure/script that acts as a keystone for the grim cross-killings repeatedly occurring without pause between pastures and sheepfolds: the psychological inconsistency of the Bandidos (and the Balentes) represented in it does not facilitate the viewer. Lastly, the dialogues: when they are present, they are - to be kind - banal and modestly impactful.
And the "fault," or perhaps what could have been a merit, is not attributable to the fact that the actors are almost all "non-professionals" unaccustomed to standing in front of the camera, or that among them there is even that Luca Locci who at the end of the seventies, at the tender age of 7, was truly a "guest" of the Anonima for several weeks.
That's not the point.
The fact is, despite my efforts to understand how much work is behind a work like this, the palpable feeling at the end of it all is that it is a poorly exploited opportunity, considering moreover the main theme on which the film is (or would be) centered, the so-called "Bàlentia" and the fatal plague of banditry that brutally and bloodily gripped the island for several decades, has not been previously represented in a memorable and/or significant way: I think of how intriguing it would have been to develop these dynamics in a more structured and adequate manner.
Fabio Manuel, what to say, maybe next time.
Ma kust'orta non ci seusu. Mancu pagu pagu.
Little-known note:
La DeRecensa is for the sole use and reading of the DeSardi (and, by extension, the inhabitants of the territories of Bozen and province) of the DeBasio who have heard about, within the national dailies and radio-television news, the release of such a "masterpiece" of the nouvelle vogue of insular cinema.
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