Malena film review

certificate_15

MALENA

There are few things that concern a twelve year old boy more than the frenetic goings-on in his trousers, and the predicament of Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe Sulfaro), the hero of Giuseppe Tornatore's new film is no exception. Unfortunately for Renato, the onset of puberty coincides with discovering his town's most beautiful woman, Malena, (Monica Bellucci) an untouchable goddess who sends Renato's hormones into overdrive. The first half of this movie may be little more than a paean to the erotic desires of a young Catholic boy as Renato follows Malena everywhere she goes with carnal sin on his mind, but by the end the director has crafted a moving account of hypocrisy and guilt in a Sicilian town during the Second World War. Malena steps back to the world Tornatore portrayed in Cinema Paradiso and indicates that he is back to top form after the folly of The Legend of 1900.

Fascist Italy, 1940. The beloved Duce's proclamations are eagerly anticipated on a daily basis as the nation pulls together to counter the ferocious threat posed by the Allied forces. Only one thing unites the townsfolk of Castelcuto as much as their pledge to Mussolini, and that is their love of gossip. The subject of these chattering classes' caustic comments is the lonely and mysterious Malena, a beautiful young wife whose husband is away fighting at the front line. Everyone assumes she is having an affair, and when news reaches town that her husband has been killed in action the scandalmongers are quick to predict that Malena has taken one, or more lovers. Idle gossip turns into persecution, as Malena is forced to endure not only the taunts of her neighbours but also real hardship as the community refuses to allow her any of the town's diminishing food supply.