I'm glad I decided to watch this on Rai Storia tonight, despite the low IMDb score. Not bad at all, and even a masterpiece of sorts with its harsh but correct attitude.
The sequencing is great and there is no time lost. We are presented with a flowing story with everything from action, hard-hitting dialogue, some on-the-nose social commentary and many emotional scenes.
This is so 1990! Looking at the first few minutes you can tell it's past the 80s yet not into 1991. Not just the audio visual character, but also the subject matter is extremely in tune with that exact year. I remember movies from other countries covering that issue, so, maybe that was to that particular year what Covid, vaccines and climate change are to 2023?
I'm not educated enough on the matter, but the way it is covered suggests the heroine addiction had grown worldwide in the 80s to make it into such ordinary Italian households in a sneaky way.
The mention of AIDS coming in so late in the movie was a surprise. That was because the kid in question was at first a solo user who had his own syringes? I'd expect such a film to cover that angle more profoundly as well, given it was the other evil that accompanied this one socially.
The early scene in which the medic at the hospital told them to take the kid "elsewhere" or he'd die... And the mother's boyfriend somehow taking him to a doctor for a shot... So it was illegal officially family was advised on how to save the moment, at least off the books. Maybe it was common knowledge but was news to me.
The scenes are strong and the acting is solid. I don't get the low score. May it be that the dubbing and other technical features make it unbearable for younger audiences?
Or is it because nowadays even drug addicts are seen as a "vulnerable, marginalized, oppressed community" that should somehow be excused?
Well, this film is living proof that such attitude has no chance of solving these problems.
