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.

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 had pretty high hopes of this film, primarily due to it having a couple of decent actors. Unfortunately the whole thing doesn't work at all. The attempt at a plot is just terrible. Some of the editing is very bad, for example, Keitel standing on a elevated road, and a second later getting on a tram down at ground level with no explanation as to how he got down there (that part's probably on the cutting room floor.) I also think some of the problem is it tries to be an artistic film but doesn't have any interesting plots or story, except for the tiniest interesting part at the swimming pool. I ended up just laughing at the stupidity of the whole thing.

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.