According to subtitledonline.com and several other sources the American DVD release of Giuseppe Tornatore’s 2009 movie, Baarìa, will be this month. Actually, they say it’s already been released, but I don’t see it on Amazon.com or Netflix yet. I have signed up to be notified when it becomes available on Amazon and I see that you can save it on Netflix. Baarìa was the opening film at the 2009 Venice Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe award, and Tornatore won the Pasinetti award at Venice; nevertheless, I wasn’t crazy about it. It’s a sentimental, semi-autobiographical story and as I’ve said before, looks kind of like a 2 hour ad for Barilla Pasta. It’s really pretty, and not horrible – see it if you can.
In an interview at the Venice Film Festival Tornatore said very eloquently (but keeping in mind, I have done the translation here and my Italian sucks):
People that has lived in a rural area sees their hometown as the center of the world. They grew up in their little world, a world of little dreams and surprises, and then grow up, sometimes move away and then return there, understanding things better. People who are living in other places could be living more or less the same lives. In Baarìa life unfolds in tiny increments, among small houses and town squares, and crossing and following it back and forth you can learn what the world doesn’t know how to teach you. The country, the small towns are important and they help you almost always understand better what happens in other places parts of the world.
I like thinking about a film as a place that ends up being a little allegorical about all the places in which we were born.
Tornatore is über-talented but he’s over the top with the melodrama in Baarìa. It you’d like to read my reviews – click HERE.
I Love Italian Everything 