Marina (2013)

The true story of Rocco Granata, an Italian coal miner's son who followed his passion for music against his father's wishes and social barriers.

Director:

Stijn Coninx

Writers:

Stijn Coninx, Rik D'Hiet

Stars:

Luigi Lo Cascio, Donatella Finocchiaro, Matteo Simoni

9 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luigi Lo Cascio	...	Salvatore
Donatella Finocchiaro	...	Ida
Matteo Simoni	...	Rocco
Evelien Bosmans	...	Helena
Cristiaan Campagna	...	Young Rocco
Marte Bosmans	...	Young Helena
Maité Redal	...	Wanda
Warre Borgmans	...	Mister Somers
Chris van den Durpel	...	Tony Bruno
Flor Decleir	...	Jacky
Jobst Schnibbe	...	Hans Kumberger
Mattias Van de Vijver	...	Renaat (as Mattias Van De Vijver)
Landerik Boie	...	Young Renaat (as Landerik Boe)
Federica Marinò	...	Young Wanda
Pieter-Jan De Wyngaert	...	Jos

Storyline

Salvatore Granata is a rather poor man who lives with his wife, son and daughter in Calabria in Italy. One day Salvatore decides to move to Belgium to work in the coal mine of Waterschei as a "gastarbeider," an immigrant worker. His family will stay in Italy as Salvatore will only be in Belgium for three years. He hopes to earn much money in a rather small time frame so he can buy a forge for his son Rocco who is now still a 9 year old boy. After a year, Salvatore decides his family should be with him, so they also move to Belgium. They soon discover the life of a "gastarbeider" is difficult: they have to live in some kind of barracks, they are neglected by the Belgian people and they do not earn much. They are astonished when they hear Salvatore signed a contract of five years and children of "gastarbeiders" ought to work in the mines as soon they leave high school. Rocco meets Helena, the daughter of the local grocer. However, the man is a racist and forbids his daughter to play ...

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Plot Keywords:

belgium | musician | accordion | male frontal nudity | male nudity | 

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Taglines:

A Story of Passion, Love, and Music.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Belgium Italy

Language:

Flemish Italian French Dutch

Release Date:

6 November 2013 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

Марина

Filming Locations:

Beringen, Belgium

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, Les Films du Fleuve

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most part of the movie is in Italian. Matteo Simoni had to learn this language.

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Goofs

There are several scenes where Matteo Simoni has to play the accordion. It is obvious Matteo cannot play the instrument at all as none of the keys he presses corresponds with what you actually hear.

User Reviews

Very good film. Really.

Background: Had never heard of Rocco Granata. Chanced on this film on TV one evening. Started watching it because of the beautiful photography, and excellent acting. Watched it to the end.

On to the critic "Marina" recounts the early life of Italian-Belgian singer Rocco Granata (born 1938, first big success in 1959), until he starts becoming famous. One could be worried about the clichés of poor family from Calabria moving to Netherlands, father working as a miner but son wanted to only play music and sing, local population is racist and to make matters worse the immigrant starts liking a local girl, and so on - but no, this is done really well, with lots of subtlety! And the acting is just so good! None of the actors is famous, I guess the most famous (or least unknown) is the Dutch girlfriend (Evelien Bosmans), who has had several roles on local TV.

Did I mention that the photography was very beautiful, but without overdoing it either?

Well worth watching. Possibly even re-watching.