Valeria Golino, wife of fisherman Vincenzo Amato and mother of three, lives on the island of Lampedusa and clearly suffers from a form of manic depression. It usually manifests as free-spirited, erratic behavior, but occasionally spirals into dark violence that requires sedation. Amato has had enough and, spurred on by his family and the rest of the village, plans on shipping Golino off to a clinic in Milan. She flees and goes into hiding, aided by her eldest son Francesco Casisa who has a perhaps too close relationship with her.
That's essentially the plot, which is fairly slight and resolves itself with a very poetic, if somewhat unsatisfying ending. The plot isn't really the attraction here. What really draws me to this film is it's very vivid depiction of life in this village, with tribes of unruly young men warring against each other, daughter Veronica D'Agostino pursuing a relationship with a young, inexperienced police man, and children turning in fish for lottery tickets to try to win toy trains.
I don't know if life on Lampedusa is or has ever been like this, but I'd like to think so because it makes for a really compelling film.
That's essentially the plot, which is fairly slight and resolves itself with a very poetic, if somewhat unsatisfying ending. The plot isn't really the attraction here. What really draws me to this film is it's very vivid depiction of life in this village, with tribes of unruly young men warring against each other, daughter Veronica D'Agostino pursuing a relationship with a young, inexperienced police man, and children turning in fish for lottery tickets to try to win toy trains.
I don't know if life on Lampedusa is or has ever been like this, but I'd like to think so because it makes for a really compelling film.