Maladolescenza

A typical 70s Italian coming of age film, original and good music, but with some quirks, interesting but not fantastic photography, poor and at times confused storyline (e.g. the role of the wolf-dog, and where does the boy come from?) with poor dialogue, nice ambiance.

The reason it is still (relatively) well-known and sought after is probably the nude scenes (including typical 70s pseudo-coitus) involving an 11 and 13 year old girl with an older teenage boy (Eva Ionesco and Laura Wendel) - it is interesting from a socio-political point of view to see how these representations of very young adolescents was considered acceptable and normal in the whole of Europe (and US) 30 years ago, whereas now it is more than taboo.

The story revolves round bullying of one girl (Laura) by the other two characters, and her discovery of sex, a quite accurate representation of an aspect teenage life. The character of Eva (Silvia) does not evolve to the very end of the film and already appears very versed in the erotic arts - there is no "coming of age" for her: she is a very vain young girl who is already aware of her sexual charms, but ultimately is just used and ends the film crying like the little girl she really still is. The boy is an utterly despicable bully, while Laura comes across as a very naive and weak victim.

This is one of the most banned movies or highly cut movies at all times, Cannibal Holocaust was banned in 33 countries, but when the time was right it became available all over the world. Maladolescenza never did. In 2002 there was a movie Ken Park that was discussed and been cut due the fact that adolescents were naked in the movie and Adam Chubbuck was in a controversial shot on the cover that was released. But the film wasn't banned because they were over 18 years old. Back in the seventies and especially at the end of that era everything could be done. The rise of the slashers, the glory days of (s)exploitation and the 42nd sleaze. But one thing people couldn't stand, the use or abuse of children. They still should be innocent. But some flicks dared the viewer to watch something different. In 1975 The Psychopath came out, a story about a looney children's television show host taking revenge when 'his kids' were punished from their parents, shown on screen. Beatings with a belt, what was normal in the seventies was shown. The movie never got a proper release. 1976 took it a bit further, Assault on Precinct 13 came out, a girl is shot in her face by an ice cream man. That scene had to been cut out, nowadays it's funny in some way, then it was a real shocker. 1989 brought us, Beware Children at Play. Children are killing adults but the adults take their revenge by killing the children. Never got a proper release and it was spit out by the journalists. But sometimes their was that special one, 1976, France brought us, Une Vraie Jeune Fille. Charlotte Alexandra played a 14 year old girl going on holiday on a farm with her uncle and aunt. Being bored she starts to exploit her body. One scene was much spoken about, she experiments with a worm running on her private parts. The movie was banned but is now available uncut. The age of Charlotte at the time being was never known, but she must have been around her twenties. The only thing known was that she was born at the end of the fifties. So she was an adult. One year later German/Italie brought us Maladolescenza. Again a story about a boy living in his own world and exploiting young girls to examen his/their bodies. Once it was known that it all was shown in an explicit way the movie became banned. There was nudity in it from the two girls, only 13 and 11 years old, showing their private parts and breasts. The only versions that were available was a cut version of 77 minutes, not the full 90 minutes. But the movie had a problem, showing young girls explicit it was an ideal movie for pedophiles. Well sought by them all copies were destroyed but of course some people had the full uncut versions. It was almost unavailable full uncut until in 2006 Andreas Bethmann brought out the full uncut on his X Rated Kult label as Spielen Wir Liebe only to be sold in Germany, of course that didn't work out and it was banned again. in some countries people went to jail just by buying this flick. There is a lot said about this flick, is it childpornography or not. Just let me tell that it was an official release, and the two girls were never forced to undress. But still, nowadays the word pedophile is a hot item and the movie is still banned. Even on ebay it is on the banned item list. Sometimes it pops up under Spielen Wir Liebe or Puppy Love. And guess what, it goes for a lot of money. So far no retailer dares to sell it. Probeply the most hard to get item on the net and at Conventions. All I want to say, if you can get a full uncut try to go back in those days were everything was possible. And still their will be voyeurs and pedo's searching for it, but it isn't that if you watch a horror you become a killer that if you watch this one that you will go hunting innocent children.

Having grown up in Amsterdam,Holland, where our liberal ideas are pretty much the norm, I have to say that I cannot understand why this movie caused so many problems when it came out! Sure, it is a movie of the 70's when peace and love were still there amongst a lot of old and younger people in Holland. I saw the film on a good DVD version last year and thought it was a love story about youth, rite of passage and growing up. The music in the background was pretty dire and some of the scenes were a bit dull (what was the snake scene all about??) but generally it wasn't a bad film. If some people get wound up about preteen nudity, then all I can say is they should get a life!!

Heading into Maladolescenza I was only aware that it was a flick that had young actors getting nekkid. And boy howdy did they! But besides the little bums, this flick was surprisingly well-made and had a plethora of messages to be taken from it.

The story revolves a young boy (Fabrizio) and girl (Lara) who met the past summer vacation and decided to continue their summer vacations together from here on out. Since the last vacation together they've both changed. Especially the young boy. Instead of innocence and play ruling the day, it's quite obvious his hormones are getting the better of him. This is all quite confusing to Lara, but since she has grown so fond of Fabrizio, she decides to "play" along. The story takes a different turn when another little girl (Silvia) shows up, which ends up making life even harder for poor Lara.

Firstly, Maladolescenza is an extremely thought-provoking movie. You have young teens stripping their clothes and doing some pretty heavy petting. For anyone who has a real clue, this isn't anything out of the norm. Ever watch Maury? Sheeit. Anyways, besides getting over the butt-hole in your face the story has other messages being presented. From parenting issues, to loss of innocence, loneliness, to delusion, and more than anything bullying.

Going through some of the comments on here I've seen people burst out saying it's pure child porn. In all honesty, it could be used for that. It's got little kids naked. Strap a heart-rate monitor on a pedophile and I'm sure that it'll explode. With that said, I also read that someone said it was "tame"....what the hell are you watching? How many flicks with adolescent nudity have you seen? Get with it.

Ignore and look past all the hype you've heard of it being called nothing but child porn and watch a film that deals with child innocence and bullying on levels that are rarely seen. Recommended for serious and open-minded film-goers.

I own this movie & am proud of it. I live in the good old USA and had to buy my copy in Europe, so i could get it uncut, the full 93 min version. This movie may be very controversial, but anybody who can't see past the nudity is very closed minded. This movie is a brilliant piece of art. The forest alone, is worth a million words, not to menchine the story. I'm 19, and had a difficult upbringing, especially in junior high, but this movie nails it, the emotions and feelings that i had as a preteen and young teen. I praise this movie for exploring this difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. Anybody who would call this movie pornography, is ignorant, as far as i'm concerned, at most maybe you could argue that it is mild erotica, but even that is a stretch. When are people going to realize that nudity does not equal pornography, and love making does not always equal sex. Anyway, i have to put in my vote as one of the best coming of age movies that i have ever seen, a 9/10. I have seen a lot of movies, spending a lot of my winters watching movie after movie, I'm a huge movie buff, and through my experience i have found that European movies tend to be a lot more honest about feelings, love, and life in general, then do US movies, where ratings are based on sex and violence. This movie remains a favorite of mine to this day on how brutally honest it protrays this adolescent transition. A must see for anyone who loves art or who is struggling through adolescence.