You know it's going to be hackneyed when the old fisherman who lives on an island and has a long white beard and looks like an actor who would be better off playing Lear than a down at heel, hard working Southern Italian fisherman with health issues gets a lead role. O.K. The plots. Yes. There are more than one. Plot one. Widow needs her son to get a better life away from fisher-folk. Plot two. One day granddad (long white beard) sees a sinking boat of migrants from Africa. For reasons that are not obvious he jumps in the water to rescue a drowning pregnant woman. She is an African. But not really. Just a lot of make up. Then tourists turn up. They have money. Plot three. Widow rents out her house and sleeps in the garage. African lady has baby. Plot four. Grandson is angry. He wants to stay but his mom wants him to have a better life. Like on the poverty stricken mainland. I am Italian, I know. Italy in the south is as bad as it gets. And so is the acting. Plot five. Hard nosed cops take the boat from granddad because he helped the Africans. I hung on for 20 minutes before throwing this rather smelly fish back in the sea.

A KVIFF screening of TERRAFERMA, last year Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film entry from Italy. The Mediterranean island scenery no wonder captures a feel good cheerfulness since the very first shots of blue sea, a consistent locale as in director Emanuele Crialese's previous island-focused films GOLDEN DOOR 2006 and RESPIRO 2002, but the film has challenged on a more contentious topic, the illegal immigrants coming from the African land, since the island in the film is the very first ground they can set foot on, and subsequently their unexpected arrival will predictably prompts the life of local islanders, with a considerable foil of mainland tourists, the film has acquired quite doable folders.The film is a decent crowd-pleaser, and the narrative is entangled with substantial emotions from its characters (notably the interplay between Donatella Finocciaro and Timnit T.), another spreading branch is our wide-eyed protagonist's growth pain (Flippo Pucillo is well-chosen in his first leading role, whose innocent appearance and sympathetic personality are typically Italian and radiates great credibility on screen), but unfortunately, both the film and the cast barely miss my 2011 Top 10 list, the competition is tougher and tougher since my accumulated filmography). The film sets an open ending in the wake of the thorny issue it tackles with, which is a lesser achievement since it somewhat sidesteps a trapped tragic denouement, which reminds me of Matteo Garrone's REALITY (2012, 8/10), out of the realistic mire, both films opt a lightly- surrealistic way to put on some thematic impetus, but the difference is quite evident, in REALITY, the final shot is a sublimation to accent the pathologic society, while in TERRAFERMA, it seems to me is a have-to approach to at least culminate the film in its running time, quite an evasive strategy, or maybe it just opens its way to a sequel? Which I doubt the necessity.

"Terraferma" has an awful lot of things going on in it. Set on the isle of Sicily off of Italy's southern coast, there's a generational battle going on between a grandfather, his son and a grandson over the family fishing boat and business. There's a battle going on between the grandson and his mother over his future. There's a battle going on between the business/tourism faction of the island and the problem of illegal immigration. There's a battle between the Italian Coast Guard and the older generation of fishermen over the practice of the traditional "Law of the Sea." There's a battle between the local police force (the carabinieri) and the fishermen.All these battles come together one fateful night when the grandfather adheres to tradition and refuses to leave African emmigrants in the water to drown. The ramifications of this act reverberate through all members of his family, even more so when he refuses to turn a pregnant woman over to the police and gives her shelter.The film focuses on the character of Filippo, the grandson torn between the generations. Respectful and almost adoring of his grandfather, his belief in him (and his grandfather's beliefs) is challenged in the film's most disturbing scene. He is given the chance to uphold the "Law of the Sea" - and fails.It sounds hackneyed to call "Terraferma" a 'coming of age' story. The difference here is that Filippo is not the only one coming of age. The grandfather, the son, the grandson, the mother and the nation itself are all coming of age - a new, global age with a whole new set of challenges. How do traditions survive in this age? With great difficulty, but by one person at a time.www.worstshowontheweb.com

A remarkable film from a group of busy Italian film makers whose output is largely unknown in the English speaking world, though the director's RESPIRO did get some sub-titled screening. This one deserves the Oscar it's been put up for.Hardships among Sicilian fishermen (oh oh) who become involved with I clandestini - illegal immigrants (Oh Oh!) but this one has a sharper edge than the do gooder-films that usually make their way into art theatres. The night time white water advancing on the small boat has genuine menace and the again admirable Finocchiaro turning on the black woman they saved, when pregnant and abandoned by her fellow escapees, is all the more effective because it's unfamiliar. The film is not without compassion but underlays it with a new realism.Cast, crisp camera-work, sunny scenes of ocean front life, the spectacle of half clothed tourist merry makers, whose relation with the locals is as dodgy as that of the Africans, all add to the impact of an involving and accomplished production.