Compared to previous episodes in the series, Alberto Sironi's production is decidedly darker in tone. The eponymous hero (Luca Zingaretti) finds himself in pursuit of a Tunisian child-trafficker who will stop at nothing, it seems, to achieve his ends. On the way the Inspector encounters a low-life who involves himself in the crimes so as to reduce interest on his loans, a young boy trying to escape from his family, and an elderly couple who try to shoot him.
There are certain implausibilities in the tale (why wouldn't the Sicilian harbor police have been notified if there was a regular child-trafficking racket going on, and can six police officers actually deal with an organized gang?), but director Sironi compensates for this with a slower, much more reflective shooting- style, including slow pans across the Sicilian coast, leading to close-ups of Montalbano's face. This technique not only emphasizes the Inspector's relationship to the landscape, but makes us realize just how difficult the task of policing the coast actually is; there is so much of it that can be readily used (or abused) by would-be traffickers.
THE TURNING POINT conjures up a world where money counts for much more than human lives, especially for those interested in making a fast buck. The Inspector maintains his basic integrity, but is nonetheless shocked by the depths to which people can descend in a financially-obsessed world. There are certain comic elements to the story, involving the willing but basically incompetent police officer Catarella (Angelo Russo), but the overall tone of this mystery is one of regret on the Inspector's part at the crimes he is forced to investigate.
There are certain implausibilities in the tale (why wouldn't the Sicilian harbor police have been notified if there was a regular child-trafficking racket going on, and can six police officers actually deal with an organized gang?), but director Sironi compensates for this with a slower, much more reflective shooting- style, including slow pans across the Sicilian coast, leading to close-ups of Montalbano's face. This technique not only emphasizes the Inspector's relationship to the landscape, but makes us realize just how difficult the task of policing the coast actually is; there is so much of it that can be readily used (or abused) by would-be traffickers.
THE TURNING POINT conjures up a world where money counts for much more than human lives, especially for those interested in making a fast buck. The Inspector maintains his basic integrity, but is nonetheless shocked by the depths to which people can descend in a financially-obsessed world. There are certain comic elements to the story, involving the willing but basically incompetent police officer Catarella (Angelo Russo), but the overall tone of this mystery is one of regret on the Inspector's part at the crimes he is forced to investigate.