The opening film of the 2009 Venice Film Festival, Tornatore's (CINEMA PARADISO) BAARÌA is a sprawling autobiographical account of life in the eponymous Sicilian town across three generations.
Beginning in the 1920s, the film explores the private lives of its central characters against the backdrop of a community under strict fascist rule.
Having already stirred up controversy in Italy for its graphic subject matter and austere tone, this Golden Globe-nominated epic is a sentimental postcard from a director with an uncompromising style.
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL it isn't, but BAARÌA is a work of intimacy and grandeur that deserves to be seen on the big screen.