La ragazza ha volato

The movie started off, and the first thing I thought was "the angles though".

To me, it was clear from the beginning, that this was the work of no ordinary director. The movie was made with passion. The aesthetics spoke to me. Alma Noce's powerful acting and her eternal sulk was beyond the call of duty.

There is also this evil touch to it. A tragedy that is not so unordinary, which only makes it an even more real and emotional experience.

But Nadia, the protagonist, turned it all around, with her strong will, or some lingering and mysterious force that is never explained to us. The mystique intrigues and captures one's attention.

I loved the birthmark. It satisfies the viewer's need for something unique and different. A subtle detail, but nonetheless, of great taste.

Wilma Labate's La ragazza ha volato has been inserted into the Orrizonti lineup with the premise that its setting, the north-eastern town of Trieste, is a meeting point of various cultures, of the east and the west. The setting could have been in any major italian town and nothing would have changed. In fact, this film is only the last in a long series of italian films that are set in the North-East and do not seem to fully attempt to represent accurately its regional peculiarities, a feature that would have enrichened it and truly rendered a new "horizon".

The most startling feature of the film has to be the screenplay, penned by the D'Innocenzo brothers (who have rightfully won - with Favolacce - the award for best screenplay at Berlinale in 2020). Far from the usual quality of their work, the dialogues are of a banality that is unmatched and their neutral, almost amateurish delivery only worsens any conversation. The best scenes of the film are, as a consequence, all silent, and inevitably ruined as soon as someone utters a word.

There are moments in which the main actress Alma Noce shines in her performance, and some form of emotion emanates from the screen. The scenes at the hospital, as well as several sequences where Nadia is alone and silent seem to suggest that there could have been a better version of this film, a version that could have been a significant narrative about contemporary topics such as alienation or violence on women, a portrait of yet another unacceptable yet very present condition of feminity. Despite such a noble endeavour, the final work related from its promise, and the weaknesses drag down with them the stronger elements.

(Excerpts from my full review available at comeandreview)