I'm Not Scared

Stunning photography. Quietly but convincingly dramatic editing throughout. The character development unfolds slowly and richly throughout the film, leaving you with heartache for the fading innocence of the children and the desperation of the adults. This is a sobering, but beautifully told story based upon a very real and sad time in Italian history. Even if you do not speak italian, expressiveness of body language, pacing, and images of this film bring the story to life.

What a terrific movie. Not only is the cinematography stunning but so is the acting. The plot is very different and unexpected. I found the entire watching experience riveting and satisfying. As good as any movie I've seen over the past few years. Perfect pacing tension and unbelievable acting by all the young actors in this film. There is nothing more I can say except that you will absolutely love this cinematic masterpiece

I absolutely loved the book "I'm Not Scared", and the film does an excellent job of recreating the atmosphere of the book. Atmospheric, suspenseful, beautifully filmed and the cast, primarily children, are wonderful. Subtitles.

This movie has subtitles but I generally do not mind this due to my being an avid reader. PLEASE DO NOT LET THE SUBTITLES DETER YOU. This movie is scary, funny, and heart warming with a huge dose of justice at the end. Don't miss this movie. I bought a copy soon after I had watched it. My sister in law is from the Phillipines and has difficulty reading english and watching at the same time. I let her watch the movie as I narrated and she was frightened, engaged, laughing and crying alternately in several parts. Watch this movie.

You will draw a clear sense of this gripping story from the many other excellent reviews on this site. What I want to comment on is the most amazing cinematographic depiction of HEAT ever brought to the silver screen. I've never experienced anything like it! The movie is set against the backdrop of mid summer in southern Italy - filmed in Potenza. This is the wheat-belt of Italy, and man is it hot. Every scene, every detail draws you back to that essential point - it is molto caldo. The crackle of the wheat sheaths blowing in the hot wind; the scratching of the ants crawling across the burnt dust under the wheat; the buzzing of the cicadas in the dried branches of the shrubs; the glare of the sun and the stark contrasting shadows it creates; thethe rattle of the fan in the dark kitchen, blowing across the sweat-beaded breast of Michele's mother in a loose peasant dress. Pulsating, palpable heat. The movie should have won an Oscar for this giant artistic accomplishment. It is worth seeing for this reason alone, and yet it only the setting for a terrific, compelling, disturbing story. One of the best films I have ever seen.

The Scenery.........AWESOME!!! The Children......AWESOME!!! The Directing........AWESOME!!! The Soundtrack......AWESOME!!! As they say, "location, location, location," the most beautiful wheat fields in the world. The soundtrack was nothing short of perfection. The children in this movie were so believable it was like watching a true story, live. The directing in this film left nothing to be desired. I rented this movie from the library and watched it about seven or eight times. I can't get enough of this film, I must own this movie! Now to see if I can find the soundtrack.

This is a hypnotic film, filled with dream imagery and yet it tells a horrific tales, of innocence lost and realities that have to be faced. Not wanting to give too much away, let me just say that the film focuses on a young boy and a terrible discovery he makes, one that eventually leads him to suspect those closest to him, even his parents. At first the movie seems almost surreal, making it hard to separate fact from fiction. And then...the reality becames almost too intense, as the child discovers that all he has taken for granted may be based on a lie.

I teach HS Italian and I show this to my sophomores/juniors every year after a unit on Italian cinema. They LOVE it, and so do I! Beautiful cinematography. The children in this movie are perfect for their roles. The main character touches my heart with his goodness every time. I will never get tired of this movie. A delicate time of life perfectly portrayed.

Quality Drama with a side order of Sicilian Countryside., 5 Jul 2008Plot:Thriller dealing with the loss of innocence set in southern Italy. A ten-year-old boy discovers a young child chained up and starving in an abandoned farmyard. He befriends the boy and slowly discovers that he has uncovered a conspiracy that reaches into his own familyMy Review:Written by Niccolò Ammaniti, whose novel is so sublime and subtle in its creative use to describe sound, colour and imagery, comes the onscreen version of one of his appraised novels based on a 1970's kid growing up in Sicily.Director Gabriele Salvatores accrues together scriptwriter Niccol Ammaniti's simple words and tries to apprehend the panoramic imagery that encompasses the film in its finest and darkest hours. Sheer volume of words could not describe how the imagery grasps the viewers eyes, although as if you are standing upon a Sicilian cornfield, where you can almost feel the dry heat and smell the odorous of faint and distinctive Sicilian cuisine. The very imagery makes in an envious place to live, as if on some level that the pleasures of the idyllic rural existence is the very essence of a carefree life.The story is of course a bucolic drama is set in 1978; the Basilicata region of Italy, you think with the title it suggests to be about growing up in the rustic keeps of Sicilian Italy. However, the sheer forceful blow comes from the fact that film is like the idyllic place that has more than meets the eye, of course it does with a title as suggestive as it sounds. It seems like a picture-perfect indigenous location that bears the likes of a tourist's idea of a traditional Italian holiday.The real star is 9-10 year old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano), the rurally kept pre-adolescent protagonist following his discovery of a feral blind boy Filippo (Mattia Di Pierro), who's chained up in a hole in the ground beside a ruined farm. The pairing of friendship and direction of these two herald by director Gabriele Salvatores shows its true appreciation in the interaction of these two very different children. The range of acting and direction shows the same level of mature child actors in league with other directors, i.e. Guillermo del Toro's work with child star Ivana Baquero in `Pan's Labyrinth' or Alejandro González Iñárritu's direction of children in his trilogy from `Amores Perros', `21 Grams' and recently `Babel'.One scene that particularly engrosses attention and shows true connection between these younger actors is a scene in which Michele tries to get Filippo to open his eyes and look upon the face of the young lad who has befriended him. The scene shows a glimmer and incandescent spark of light and Filippo's first look at Michele.Nevertheless, underneath the pristine imagery and wonderful direction lies the superficial rendering of a thriller, less played out conventionally and more a tense coming-of-age light-hearted rigid story. Good stuff.Verdict:Unparallel drama and tightly woven plot with a wonderfully sublime script thanks to the novelist. Fancy a trip to Sicily? 8.5/10.

Plot:Thriller dealing with the loss of innocence set in southern Italy. A ten-year-old boy discovers a young child chained up and starving in an abandoned farmyard. He befriends the boy and slowly discovers that he has uncovered a conspiracy that reaches into his own familyMy Review:Written by Niccolò Ammaniti, whose novel is so sublime and subtle in its creative use to describe sound, colour and imagery, comes the onscreen version of one of his appraised novels based on a 1970's kid growing up in Sicily.Director Gabriele Salvatores accrues together scriptwriter Niccol Ammaniti's simple words and tries to apprehend the panoramic imagery that encompasses the film in its finest and darkest hours. Sheer volume of words could not describe how the imagery grasps the viewers eyes, although as if you are standing upon a Sicilian cornfield, where you can almost feel the dry heat and smell the odorous of faint and distinctive Sicilian cuisine. The very imagery makes in an envious place to live, as if on some level that the pleasures of the idyllic rural existence is the very essence of a carefree life.The story is of course a bucolic drama is set in 1978; the Basilicata region of Italy, you think with the title it suggests to be about growing up in the rustic keeps of Sicilian Italy. However, the sheer forceful blow comes from the fact that film is like the idyllic place that has more than meets the eye, of course it does with a title as suggestive as it sounds. It seems like a picture-perfect indigenous location that bears the likes of a tourist's idea of a traditional Italian holiday.The real star is 9-10 year old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano), the rurally kept pre-adolescent protagonist following his discovery of a feral blind boy Filippo (Mattia Di Pierro), who's chained up in a hole in the ground beside a ruined farm. The pairing of friendship and direction of these two herald by director Gabriele Salvatores shows its true appreciation in the interaction of these two very different children. The range of acting and direction shows the same level of mature child actors in league with other directors, i.e. Guillermo del Toro's work with child star Ivana Baquero in `Pan's Labyrinth' or Alejandro González Iñárritu's direction of children in his trilogy from `Amores Perros', `21 Grams' and recently `Babel'.One scene that particularly engrosses attention and shows true connection between these younger actors is a scene in which Michele tries to get Filippo to open his eyes and look upon the face of the young lad who has befriended him. The scene shows a glimmer and incandescent spark of light and Filippo's first look at Michele.Nevertheless, underneath the pristine imagery and wonderful direct lies the superficial rendering of a thriller, less played out conventionally and more a tense coming-of-age light-hearted rigid story. Good stuff.Verdict:Unparallel drama and tightly woven plot with a wonderfully sublime script thanks to the novelist. Fancy a trip to Sicily? 8.5/10.The Film is showing on Monday 7th July 2008 at 12:10 am. On Channel 4.

Children are running. The day is bright, the field where they scamper is golden. Accompanied by a speedy violin track, the camera barely keeps up as the kids hurtle forward, their bare legs dark amid the sunburned cast of the grasses. Maria, younger and smaller than her fellows, stumbles, and her older brother, nine-year-old Michele goes back to fetch her.This means that he loses the race -- for it is a race, not a flight from danger -- and so must pay up, that is, he must perform a feat of daring, named by the contest winner. Soon afterwards Michele the child discovers a small boy hidden/imprisoned in a cavernous hole near an abandoned farmhouse and acts with courage and compassion to "do the right thing".Thats just the beginning of this beautiful Italian film. I have watched it several times over the years, and i will never tire of the hypnotic power some European movie have. Just like 'Respiro' and 'Sex and Lucia', this movie casts a spell and the result is 2 hours of magical entertainment.

As the other reviewers point out this film is not well documented on the sleeve blurb. Indeed the redeeming feature of the film is the expansive photography as the plot is extremely thin and not what the cover would lead you to expect.Thus the storyline allows the film to explore more visual aspects and the interplay between the characters outside of the flimsy plot is refreshing and a joy to watch. A good film with excellent photography but not quite 5 star material for me.

I loved this film -beautiful cinematography ,amazing scenes of Italian landscape ,and a great story which keeps you gripped from start to finish .The young boy lead is excellent and the moral of following your own conscience and doing the right thing seems to shine through for me; at least that's how I see it .A memorable movie experience for me .