sobot

All the other reviews on this site seem to be delighted by this movie. I don't agree. Perhaps I was watching through western eyes, but it did not strike me as a good film.

The topic is very serious: corruption, police brutality, repression... I generally like movies about these things. So what is the problem? Well, everything has a steady Bollywood feel. The bad guys are soooo rotten. The good guys are simply angelic. Everyone on screen over-acts. And there is a subplot about some prostitutes which I would almost call exploitative. No real nudity, but almost.

This is my first Egyptian movie, and also the first one I saw by Chanine. I know that he is a renowned director and I intend to see more of his movies; I hope that the older ones are better...

Serafino lives an idyllic life in his little village. All he needs to be happy are daily adventures with local women, and they find it hard to resist him.

This plot does not seem very promising, but as the movie rolled on I found myself attached to this simple character and very much amused by the movie. Note that, contrary to expectations, there is absolutely no nudity in he movie. However, the viewing requires a good translation (if one does not speak Italian) to enjoy the juicy dialogues.

Once again I am convinced that searching for less known movies by Pietro Germi pays off immensely. Most people are acquainted only with a few of his best known (such as "Divorzio all'italiana"), but he had produced several more true gems (I recommend "In nome della legge" and "La città si difende", among others).