Wow! It's just a minute ago I've turned off the TV after watching this film. I recommend you NOT to even dare to watch it. Have you ever seen Italian films? They're amongst the best films in the world. Italians are creative, sensitive, daring and they're never afraid to experiment.Italians are intelligent and really good at design, filmmaking, beauty and history. This film is -BEWARE!!!!!!- NOT Italian. This is a piece of rubbish that is sorrowful and painful to watch. Whoever wrote the script and directed it should be put behind bars after throwing away millions upon millions just to make this. I'm ashamed that Studio Canal decided to back such a project. (If you really want to watch a bit of what Italian Masters do,go to: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456041)Good actors that are performing like doped mannequins (that's one of the reasons why theatre is for the skilled ones), a script that stumbles and gives up the whole story from the very beginning; unimaginable deviations of tone and pace... the list is one of the most complete I've ever witnessed in the history of filmmaking. Maybe the only thing I'd praise is sfx and photography. Poor guy the one who did it, who will ever admire his craft if it's been put through a shredder? I'm -yes, I know- feeling dizzy and sorry for the folks who had anything to do with this "film". Poor Mattia, the kid who plays the role of Ettore... I guess this was debut and farewell. If they were to pay me whatever they paid the actors and actresses in this film, I wouldn't show my face, and I'd rather erase all the credits just to save the souls of all the people who did a great job and, most surely, broke their backs to make this crap happening.I guess there's nothing to say about the plot or script or any creative or artistic quality in the film. Please!!!! let Italians do what they are best at. Sorry again, I'm so upset to even think that I made it through the end. I stopped the film at least twenty times, stupidly thinking it could get better. Lost two hours of my life and 1/4 of my liver.

"Ginostra" is a huge mess.The Plot: FBI Agent Matt Benson (Keitel) travels to Italy to help a young boy from the mobsters that killed his family run by Del Piero (Stanton). There's also weird nuns (One of them played by Argento) involved with a volcano.....From the opening scene the movie has already overstayed it's welcome. The movie is just abrupt and edited terribly. Scenes just start\end with no rhythm. Andie MacDowell has nothing to do, and Argento even less, even with the 2-hour plus running time. The best scene in the movie is the confrontation between Keitel and Stanton. The oddest part of the movie is: (Get ready...) One of the mobsters puts a bomb in a sheep and it blows up. I'm not kidding.No wonder this movie has been on the shelf for over 5 years. It deserved it. Maybe it should've stayed there longer after some editing.It's only worth sitting though if you're a Keitel completist. Anybody else stay away. Don't be fooled by the quality cast.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

A film using an active volcano as a backdrop for a drama is an original idea but it is about all that is good in this film. This is sure to be Andie McDowell's worst film and probably everyone else's in the cast. The story line is impossible to follow and not worthy of suspense anyway. The character of the boy, Ettore, is too heroic for a man let alone a boy. Since such heroes invariably prove irresistible to the ladies, I half expected a nymphomania-cal McDowell to take him on, overlooking his age. My depravity was bred out of boredom. There were all sorts of extra cast members whose roles and motives were difficult to establish. The nuns called to mind the witches of Macbeth, but the suggestion of occult, if intended, also led nowhere. This is a film which has no real drama. The end is the only relief.

I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival. It sounded good on paper: Harvey Keitel plays a F.B.I. agent protecting the son of a murdered informant in Italy and Andie McDowell is his wife. I like Harvey Keitel but it felt like he was sleep walking through this film. There was no chemistry between him and Andie McDowell and she seemed more like window dressing than a solid female character. The film was slow and didn't lead to anywhere. You couldn't get into the characters and didn't care about them either way. Some of the Italian scenery was interesting but couldn't compensate for the weak script and poor editing.