Corpo celeste

As anyone who has seen "The Wonders" or "Happy as Lazzaro" will know Alice Rohrwacher is one of the marvels of contemporary cinema. "Corpo Celeste" is her lesser-known, but no less astonishing, debut made with an almost documentary realism as we get to know the world through the eyes of 13 year old Marta as she comes to terms with growing up. Unlike other girls her age, however, Marta is subjected to perhaps a little more religious education than is usual as she prepares for her confirmation. This is Catholic Italy, after all.

Like Lazzaro, Marta is possessed of an innocence that is almost other-worldly. She might like to wear her big sister's bra but she's also remarkably childlike; Rohrwacher does innocence like no-one else. She also imbues her film with a nice sense of humour, even bordering on the cynical, (the priest whose ringtone on his mobile is 'The Minute Waltz' is both ambitious and something of a prig and is magnificently played by the late Salvatore Cantalupo). Indeed, Rohrwacher draws wonderfully naturalistic performances from her entire cast and in particular from Yie Vianello as Marta. In fact, "Corpo Celeste" isn't just a superb debut but one of the best films about both childhood and religion I've ever seen. With only three features to her name, Rohrwacher may just be my favourite director right now.

While harshly critical of the deadening effects of religious dogmatism director Alice Rohrwacher is never crudely so. She manages to inject some level of sympathy for the abusive catechism teacher as well as the careerist priest while having the most negative person be the very secular, cruelly teasing older sister of the main character. I also like how the film's dramatics never veer into histrionics. In other words, Rohrwacher has a steady, controlling hand, for me a sure sign of a good film maker. Another indication is her ability to coax an amazingly fine performance from a child actor as she does here with Yie Vianello as the traumatized yet rebellious 13 year old Marta. I hope to see more of this fine director's work as well as Vianello's subsequent film, "Sow The Wind". Give it an A minus. (Why not an A? Well, for one, I would have liked more of an examination of why Marta's dad ignores her and prefers the horrendous older sister. And for another I wanted to know why Marta's family had to move from Switzerland to Calabria which, on the trauma scale, is like going from Boulder Colorado to Greenville Mississippi.)

I finally caught up with Alice Rohrwacher's filmography and watched her debut feature, «Corpo celeste», made nine years ago and for which she won several awards as new director and for best first film. Since then, we have seen a talented filmmaker who is maturing with outstanding works, as «Le meraviglie»" (story of a family that owns an apiary) and «Lazzaro felice» (portrait of an immensely good-natured young man).

This is a subtle drama about growing up and enlightenment, about Marta (Yile Yara Vianello), a beautiful and sensitive girl who becomes a nubile adolescent, during the summer when she is going to receive the sacrament of confirmation in the Catholic church. Marta has just arrived from Switzerland to Reggio di Calabria, an Italian city controlled by the mafia, and she does not find it easy to fit into a small-town congregation of sanctimonious men and women with apocalyptic hearts, a bit silly peers and Don Mario, the parish priest who leads a double life: it is election time and he is seeking a promotion in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. To round things up, add Santa, his housekeeper and Sunday school teacher, who secretly loves him; and, on the personal side, Marta's family picture, made up of a single mother and three daughters, which Rohrwacher portrays as a vivid, volatile and affectionate nest.

Spaces and environments are always special in Rohrwacher's films and, besides her documentaries, here is a seed: we have seen many rugged European villages, carved out of mountains, between ascending curves, with rustic houses crowded one on top of the other, but the brief scenes in which the director's camera enters a house and a church in ruins, it is enough to reveal the desolation of the place; and, in the end, the film opens up (not closes, for it is not a "denouement", the film does not "untie plot knots", but fluently runs through emotions, situations and demonstrations) when Marta unexpectedly arrives to the sea, which, in the characters' fantasies, is alluded as a place of escape and repose.

A very good film, «Corpo celeste» is a preview of Alice Rohrwacher's next two major works, which I hope is enjoyed by those persons who love good cinema from all over the world.

Alice Rohrwacher cannot disappoint.

If like myself, you have seen her latter films (and don't skip the documentary La Futura) - and are wonder-ing about seeing this film, rest assured even in her debut, you shall be rewarded.

This film is a little slower or more subtle perhaps than the others. Rohrwacher has not yet put her full faith in nature, but there are gusts of winds that sort of blow the (what else) young teenage female heroine through the town she has recently moved to.

In contrast to the church's literal formula, young Marta goes on her own pilgrimage. She is a misfit both in catechism and her sister's borrowed clothing. The viewer may have to be gentle with her and this film , but ultimately there is a lot going on. Trust in her, as in all of Rohrwacher's adolescent savants. The wisdom of the naif.

I feel like this could pair well with the more grandiose "The Mission." The film is not so much about religion, though it can feel that way. To me the tale is more about abandonment.

Amazing how the director connects a famous phrase from the Bible, Christ's cry - in Greek as part of the aforementioned formula, to the town of Roghudi Vecchio. There is also the subplot of Santa (the real spirit of the small church) and Don Mario (definitely the corporate/corporeal side) - and Santa fearing his abandoning.

There are religious tropes that tantalize through-out, walking on water, loaves and fishes, the blood of innocents - but do not be led into the temptation of trope tagging, instead enjoy the beauty of doubt, and the wrestling with abandonment.

Well that, and Rohrwacher's portrayal of adolescence as somehow more knowing and more flexibly real than rigid structures of catechism and capitalism and the other isms Rohrwacher so strongly distrusts.

This is the movie which can be discuss for years to come. A young pre-adolescent girl from Switzerland, where there is freedom of religion, who goes to Catholic dominated Italy to live with her Mother and older Sister who pesters her. Imagine the cultural shock of a contrast country. Add to this, the coming of adolescent age with its confusion and rebellion. Survival is challenging despite the indoctrination of a religious sense to keep people living within the teachings of the church. One sees a battle between moral values and self preservation. Plus, the struggle of an innocent child who wants to live the right way in a world that acts on human self righteousness and desires. This film will take you on a ride which leaves you in a hopeless state of not knowing who to believe or what to believe. Yet, among all the world lust, hypocritical situations, and unfairness... we can survive. We are a miracle. Especially when we put our faith in spiritual understanding. A thought provoking film which will question your own beliefs and understanding.