IL LADRO DI BAMBINI
[STOLEN CHILDREN]
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
Sad but heartwarming, this story of real life for some unfortunates. The film is of an 11-year-old girl and her brother, two years younger, and a good hearted soldier in the Carabinieri.
Because the family in destitute, the mother puts out her young daughter as a prostitute, the sole income for the mother and her two children. When the mother and her boyfriend are arrested, he for having sex with the young girl, the mother for having prostituted the child, the two children are sent from Sicily to a Children's Home in the custody of a young soldier in the Carabinieri.
While the young officer is taking them by train to the Home, he does everything he can to befriend them. They, he feels, are children and thus not responsible for what they did or what befell them but both the girl and boy remain sullen and unresponsive.
Arriving at the Home, they find that they will not be admitted. The person in charge says that without a medical certificate for the girl he will not allow them to stay. They then start a trip to another Home, this one in Milan but on the way, the soldier decides they will stop at a relative's house where he introduces the youngsters as the children of another officer. As the relatives own a restaurant and there is a big party in progress, the girl and boy get a taste of normal life until one woman recognizes the girl from a picture in a magazine and blows their cover. They move on.
The soldier meanwhile has gotten a car. They stop at a beach where the kids can enjoy themselves. Both the girl, but especially the boy, have now warmed up to the officer who has promised to visit them and correspond and never to lose track of them. A poignant moment in a beautiful film.
Go see the film. Not all of life is fun and games and this film tells it as it is, not as we would like it to be. But it is told so lovingly. . . and it does have a "maybe it will be OK after all" ending.
Stars Enrico Lo Verso, Valentina Scalici and Giuseppe Leracitano.
Directed by Gianni Amelio.
In Italian with English subtitles.
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Ben Hoffman
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