The First Assignment

A lovely film about a young woman sorting out her place in life when she's sent to teach in a small peasant village in Puglia. Complicated, engaging, heartfelt and wholly entertaining. Just when you think you know where it's going, it changes course. Highly recommended!

The film took the top prize at the New Italian Film Festival in San Francisco last night - and deservedly so.

I liked the film not only for the story and the acting, but also for a look at the life of people in Puglia - who almost never make it onto the big screen. For years, Marcel Pagnol's films about French peasants have been entertaining us. Now Puglia can take its place as well.

If you thought that world cinema has run out of strong characters then you are slightly mistaken as "The First Assignment" written and directed by Giorgia Cecere shows us that the tradition of making films with strong characters is still very much alive.She has created a strong feminine character in the form of her protagonist Nena,a teacher who learns some crucial lessons in life when she has to move away from home in order to take her first teaching assignment.Italian director Giorgia Cecere,who has worked as a writer with leading Italian cinéaste Gianni Amelio,directs an excellent story with absolutely ordinary characters.Her film celebrates the beauty of life which must be led no matter difficulties and problems which one faces whether in love or in any other field.Much of this film's message is communicated through its portrayal of ordinary lives in a rugged southern Italian setting.This setting also heightens the film's message that ordinary people crack in surroundings which are alien to them.Il Primo Incarico shows that no logic can be attached to a human life as events beyond control may completely change its course.Lastly,Italian actress Isabelle Ragonese is a joy to watch as she gives enormous dignity to her character of Nena.This is a film for those viewers who let a drama unfold in front of their eyes at its own pace.