Sean Penn
Tre Giorni Per La Verità

A lost man. Loss. Complete disorientation of one's self and consciousness.

With these few words, one can express in extreme synthesis the essence of this second directorial effort by Sean Penn: "Tre Giorni Per La Verità." And who better than the divine Jack Nicholson could interpret this extremely dramatic role so well. Freddy is a middle-aged man completely shattered by the tragic loss of his daughter, caused by a young man driving under the influence. For him, nothing matters anymore. Truly nothing. And who can blame him.

As he himself admits, the only thing keeping him alive is the thirst for revenge against the involuntary killer of his little one, who in the meantime has been released. This tremendous thirst leads him to assault him in his home with a ready gun. But the unexpected malfunction of the weapon leads him to grant the boy 3 more days, after a brief but intense verbal exchange. These 3 days or slightly more lead the protagonist to reflect deeply.

Without revealing further details of the plot, it can be said that the sublime performance by Nicholson makes the film truly poignant at times. Like when you see the actor walking the streets, eyes lost. Like when he wakes up from a nightmare and bursts into tears on the phone with his ex-wife; moments of pure drama. The loss of a child obviously cannot be fully understood by those who have not experienced it themselves. Yet the co-star David Morse, an actor probably quite underrated, delivers a great performance. As does Sean Penn, highlighting with rare mastery both the disorientation of one and the tremendous guilt of the other.

The extremely philosophical and moving finale will make this work a minor masterpiece. Bringing back an initial reflection: but who is the director of this crap show?

A must-see.