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I'M NOT SCARED (2004) (****)

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Gabriele Salvatores’ (MEDITERRANEO) I’M NOT SCARED is a simple kidnap thriller that achieves grander status do to its observant eye, point of view and style.

Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) is a 5th grader who lives in a remote village in Italy. His family is poor. His father Pino (Dino Abbrescia) is often away and is mean, but not because he doesn’t love his children, but because he is selfish, lazy and ignorant. You can tell that he really does love his children, as does their mother Anna (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, THE MACHINIST), who, however, tends to go long with what Pino says.

One day while playing with friends, Michele discovers a haggard-looking boy in a hole in the ground near an abandoned farm. Michele is scared, but his curiosity drives him back to the boy. However, when Sergio (Diego Abatantuono, MEDITERRANEO) arrives in town, the situation becomes clearer and more dangerous.

What’s great about the film is it looks at the plot from the eyes of Michele. A teenager would have acted differently in this situation, but Michele is still a boy and looks at the world innocently. The film deals with fear and the loss of innocence in a gripping way. Cristiano gives a wonderful performance and is surround by a strong supporting cast.

Unlike most modern thrillers where the scares are manufactured through jumpy editing and general loudness, Salvatores understands that the glimpsed and unknown can be the most frightening things in the world. Additionally, he uses a brilliantly subtle technique of slowly zooming in on an image when the audience’s natural reaction would be to pull away. This creates a tense and unease feeling that heightens the drama of the early scenes.

The film has a sense of nostalgia for childhood innocence that isn’t maudlin. It looks at the loss of innocence with a bittersweet sadness, even more so when the loss is ushered in by people a child is supposed to trust.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks