Baaria [DVD]

Beautifully filmed, a sheer visual delight, which is what you would expect from Tornatore. Everyone seeing Baaria will presumably have seen Cinema Paradiso first, which may induce misleading expectations. This is much more than the life story of one man, it is the story of the town as well, and of rural, small-town Sicily in the context of 20th century Italy as a whole. Peppino, the hero, is a much more human character than Salvatore (in Cinema Paradiso), because the life of Peppino and the life of the town are fleshed out in much greater detail - much more background incident, incidentally allowing a number of well-known Italian actors to take small parts. The final scenes create a nicely rounded ending. If I had to make a criticism, I would say that Tornatore tries to pack too much into 144 minutes; I would happily have sat through a more leisurely, longer version of the film, if only to protract the pleasure.

Bought this due to reviews on the French Amazon site and also enjoyed the directors previous film. It is very difficult to follow as they have packed a lot in, I think i need to watch it again to fully understand, but I think it is an enjoyable film, but not one to watch unless you can concentrate. It is very Italian and gives a good insight into growing up. Some of the themes e.g. the Mafia not so clear, but this might be the perspective of the character. Not quite what I expected, and obviously a popular film in Italy but I did not quite get it but beautifully filmed.

In a tiny Sicilian village called Baaria, the film follows three generations and 60 years from the 1920s through the 1980s. The main protagonist is Peppino (Francesco Scianna), the son of a shepherd, who becomes a committed communist during WWII. He falls in love with the lovely Mannina (Margareth Made) and they raise a family but his commitment to communism keeps him away for much of the time even as he slowly becomes disillusioned. I've never understood the great affection for director Giuseppe Tornatore's CINEMA PARADISO that most film lovers have but Tornatore's work here, though flawed, is both ambitious and beautiful. Though the film clocks in at 2 1/2 hours, the film seems choppy. Tornatore tries to cram too many stories, too many incidents and too many characters in the running time so that we never quite have the time get to know anybody but Peppino and his wife. Fortunately, the appealing Scianna and fetching Made hold our interest. The film needs a more leisurely pace. I suspect that a director's cut would run closer to 4 hours and I'd love to see that version. Visually, the film is stunning, Enrico Lucidi's wide screen images among the most beautiful I've ever seen and at times, it seems enough to just bask in those images. The ending is a real beauty. The gorgeous score is by Ennio Morricone. The massive cast includes Angela Molina and Monica Bellucci.The e-one DVD from Great Britain is a top notch wide screen (2.35) transfer.

I did film studies while I studied French at the University, I watch films all the time, and for some reason unknown to me I never heard of this film until I saw part of it on one of the Sky TV stations, and I didn't hesitate to buy it I had to see it all.I have seen Italian films related to the years of serious political unrest between 1930 and 1950, but no much were we informed of what happened during those years in Sicily. The story is told through the life of a sicilian starting with whis childhood, his youth, his political beliefs and also disappointments. I don't want to tell the story, otherwise I would spoil it.It has to bee seen!!!

Wow, what an amzing movie! I had been watching for 20 minutes when I realized I could just watch it all over again immediately after it would finish! If you don't learn to love Sicilians/ Italians after watching this, then you never will. The movie portrays the simple, yet painful life of the people of Bagheria through the twentieth century, the story is told through the life of a boy from early childhood to late adulthood. Besides an amazing, very painfully human story, it has such ridiculously funny elements,so funny that I was forced to pause several times to finish laughing before I could watch on! I do not only recommend, but will watch over and over and over again.

After waiting so long for this film to arrive,I am very disappointed.There must be a lot more we haven`t seen.Although Monica Bellucci is meant to show up,we only get a short glimpse of her,she must have had a bigger part than that.(now!now!,no wise cracks!)There is so much fast tracking from one character to the next,it seems the director couldn`t wait to get to the end.I hope we get full Directors cut before too long,despite everything it is still worth a watch.2 of my stars are for the great score by Ennio Morricone.

Not being Italian I found it disordered and lacking real story line. If there is one then it's hidden from a foreigner who doesn't pick up the nuances of the subplots. Its was long for the sake of it and jumped from one period to another, I was completely lost for the most part of it.

Not a fan of Tornatore, I must say. However, I liked this one even less than his previous ones. Although Italian by birth, I could only understand thanks to the English subtitles. I refuse to believe that this film was circulated in Italy without Italian subtitles...A couple of moments are touching, and Tornatore usually can do this well by using children. Wouldn't consider sitting through it again.

Der Film erzählt eine tolle Geschichte und wer italienisch lernen und vertiefen möchte - dafür ist er genau das richtige