Salvo

Salvo synopsis may seem like a tear jerker melodrama, but it isn't. This is the European art film at its best. Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai may come to your minds, but even that is like blockbuster in comparison with Salvo. Long shots, minimum of words, no music - that is Salvo. Salvo Mancuso. He is defined by his acts, not his words. The plot is revealed slowly and if you are right kind of spectator, you will enjoy calm atmosphere of this movie. There are some great sequences I won't spoil. This is definitely that kind of film where directors precisely thanked about each shot. This is sad film about lonely people who "live their lives like a rats" (a sentence one of the character says in the movie). If you want to be enjoyed, look somewhere else. if you like film noir, slow films and films where you see the creators know their work with images and sound, this might be for you.

The influence is obviousfor this film, very well made but also suffering from some unnecessary lengths. The main actor is maybe not Alain Delon but quite good enough to hold the comparison. Lonely hired killer who happens to face existential questions, a topic already seen many times before, even in Asian crime films, but rarely in European ones. Italy is a country, great provider of mafia topics, - I wonder why ; ha ha ha - so it is normal that Italy made this one, unlike Spain, Germany or Norway. In the USA, of course there were tons of them all over the years, especially TV products, or direct to DVDs stuff. No, this one is a good film, not that surprising though, with expected results at the end, but a good Italian crime feature.

I knew i wanted to have it the moment it ended. I watched this movie almost a year ago and was patiently waiting for it to come out on DVD.

An excellent movie that through great acting, photography and story it allows one to feel the streets, the fear, the adrenaline, the suspense and an unexpected love of life for someone that lives in epicenter of the mafia world.

It certainly does not fit the classic Hollywood movie mold and happy / hopeful ending. If this is what you're looking for you better skip this movie. This is a more thoughtful and intuitive movie that requires you to have the same insight as when you're watching an old allegoric painting. In this sense, i feel appreciation for this movie demands quite a lot from the spectator, but richly rewards him. This is the kind of movie i love.

Acting from Bakri and Serraiocco is excellent. I enjoyed very much the way Grassadonia and Piazza tell this story.

Italian cinema has produced some excellent movies recently and i think they present a superb alternative to the mainstream Hollywood products. Directors like Sorrentino and Giordana, together with actors like Favino, Servillo, Stuart and Placido amongst others have created top quality movies.

It's certainly original. Name me another Mafioso hit-man movie that has at its centre a blind heroine whose traumatic experience at the hands of a killer seems to reverse the effects of her blindness. If we are in the territory of miraculous cures Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza's movie never stresses the fact but proceeds to take us down roads we may not be used to. A mostly silent Saleh Bakri is Salvo who, on a job to kill the man who has set him up, encounters the victim's blind sister, Rita, and rather than kill her takes her along for the ride. However, it would appear the shock has restored Rita's sight, at least partially, which seems as devastating to her as being kidnapped by a hit-man. Sara Serraiocco is excellent as Rita and Bakri is highly effective in the title role, particularly in view of the fact that he hardly ever opens his mouth.

Even leaving aside the blind girl scenario, "Salvo" is unusual in other ways. Salvo is fundamentally an existentialist character who hides away from the world and is waited on hand and foot. His encounter with Rita opens his eyes as much as it does hers, awakening in him a tenderness he may not have realized was there. It's also a film that takes its time. Salvo and Rita are often the only characters we see and the conventional thrills of the Mafioso movie are conspicuously absent. Nor is it a conventional love story; the relationship that develops between captor and captive doesn't go along conventional lines and, like much else in the picture, is mostly conducted in silence and in darkness. Like I said, it's certainly original.

Now here is a slow moving movie with heart offering a distinctly creative turn in the noire genre. It's also a risk taker in that it may be a tough sell to believe a ruthless tough guy could develop a "soft side" and likewise that a victim could turn to love same said ruthless tough guy. It's a movie that requires a bit of thought to connect the dots and see whether you are convinced that the filmmaker succeeded in this ambitious and complex endeavor. While I admit I'm have some doubts about that, especially the victim turned lover side, it was an enjoyable watch in large part because one is led along by suspense that never culminates in the traditional way. Very much worth a watch unless you are expecting "traditional" mafia movie treatment.