La pazienza del ragno (7 Mar. 2006)
"Il commissario Montalbano" La pazienza del ragno (original title)

Director:

Alberto Sironi

Writers:

Francesco Bruni, Andrea Camilleri,

Stars:

Luca Zingaretti, Cesare Bocci, Maurizio Marchetti

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Luca Zingaretti	...	Commissario Salvo Montalbano
Cesare Bocci	...	Mimì Augello
Maurizio Marchetti
Biagio Pelligra
Clelia Rondinella	...	Prostitute - eggs seller
Federica De Cola
Alessandro Rugnone
Peppino Mazzotta	...	Ispettore Giuseppe Fazio
Pasquale Spadola
Angelo Russo	...	Agente Catarella
Davide Lo Verde	...	Agente Galluzzo
Marco Cavallaro	...	Tortorella
Roberto Nobile	...	Nicolò Zito
Luigi Nicolosi
Manuela Ventura

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

7 March 2006 (Italy)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Endemol Italia, Rai Fiction

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Time Shift: Italian Noir: The Story of Italian Crime Fiction (2010)

User Reviews

An unusual kidnapping

As is often the case this episode opens with Montalbano receiving a rather confused telephone call from Catarella; this time it is to let him know that they have found a motorbike belonging to a girl but there is no sign of her. It doesn't sound that serious but he goes to see what is going on. It is suspected that she might have been kidnapped but no ransom has been demanded at this point; Montalbano reasons that isn't necessarily bad although the fact that the parents are broke could mean a more disturbing motive. Thankfully the ransom demand comes soon… the kidnapper is demanding six billion… Montalbano can only assume that they are still thinking in lira as it would be a ridiculous amount of money if they meant euros! As the case progresses various things start to look wrong; the kidnappers also send the ransom demand to the media; hardly the low profile kidnappers usually try to maintain and when they send a picture of the kidnapped girl she doesn't look scared as one might expect.

This was an interesting episode for many reasons; most notable there isn't a single murder! That didn't make the case any less gripping as there were plenty of twists before the truth was revealed… the biggest twist being that the crime isn't what it appeared to be at all. Nobody expected to get any money out of the girls parents; her mother's estranged brother was a different matter though; he had money and a reputation to protect. As always Luca Zingaretti is great in the lead role and Angelo Russo is hilarious as Catarella. Away from the case there are some good laughs to be had; the best been an early scene where it becomes apparent that a friend of the kidnapped girl is a big fan of Montalbano… so much so that he can't finish that interview fast enough! Overall this was another fun episode with a good central mystery and some decent laughs along the way.