The Sicilian Girl (Day 22)

 My Opinion: 6.1 || A good story that’s solidly told. Nothing extraordinary from a filmmaking standpoint, but the movie is entertaining and effective. Although the director does nothing to defy filmmaking convention, he also avoids sentimentality and sensationalism and delivers a convincing portrait of Sicily and one flawed but brave woman.

TITLE:  The Sicilian Girl (La siciliana ribelle)
DIRECTOR:  Marco Amenta
LANGUAGE: Italian | COUNTRY: Italy
YEAR:  2008
PROFILE: Drama, Crime | 115 minutes | IMDb (6.8)

SYNOPSIS (Courtesy of Netflix): In this taut drama based on a true story, 17-year-old Rita (Veronica D’Agostino) is leading a privileged life when her father and brother are slain by rival Mafiosi. Bent on revenge, she turns to a sympathetic magistrate (Gérard Jugnot) and breaks the code of silence. In her journey from self-centered teenager to fearless advocate for justice, Rita enrages Sicily’s most powerful men, putting her life in jeopardy.

Strengths: Rita, the girl who decides to defy the Mafia code of silence, is presented in a very believable, warts-and-all way. Veronica D’Agostino may not be a great actress, but she’s very well cast and seems like she could have walked straight onto the set from a Sicilian street.

Weaknesses: No overt flaws, just an absence of anything particularly distinctive in the filmmaking. It’s a well done docudrama whose straightforward direction makes it resemble a very good made-for-TV movie.

Best Scene: The movie has such a workmanlike solidness throughout that it’s difficult to pick out an especially striking scene. I’ll go with the final meeting between Rita and her mother. We don’t know how it’s going to develop, and the final cruel words from her mother are painful and also very believable.

File Under: crime, mafia, courtroom drama