Summer 1978, the fictitious small rural village of Acque Traverse. In the wonderful landscape of the Murge plateau between the Basilicata and Apulia regions (the area of Melfi is the setting) characterized by huge wheat fields, two ten-year old boys live a decisive experience. One is fair-haired and the other one is dark-haired, one is rich and the other one is poor, one is from the north of Italy and the other one from the south, one is the victim and the other one his rescuer. Indeed, not far from the small village, Filippo is held prisoner, kidnapped for a ransom. They “have buried him alive” in a black hole dug in a deserted farm where Michele, a boy of his same age who by chance discovers the crime organized by his father in league with people from the same village and a shady-looking gang leader from Milan, will eventually rescue him. The shock of one of the boys is the reflection of the shock of the other, intently expressed by the camera, moving at “children’s height”. Two destinies united by the fear and courage that are necessary to grow up. A very beautiful black fairy tale slightly recalling Stand by Me by Stephen King and with a vibrant poetic vein.

Gabriele Salvatores

Born in Naples in 1950, he soon moves with his family to Milan, where he studies at the Accademia del Piccolo Teatro set up by Giorgio Strehler and Paolo Grassi. His debut as director takes place in the early Seventies, when he is one of the founders of Teatro dell’Elfo, where a work inspired by a Shakespearean play, Sogno di una notte d’estate, becomes his first film in 1983. Then, he directs Kamikazen-Ultima notte a Milano in 1987, which launches some comedians of the new Milanese scene, including Paolo Rossi and Claudio Bisio (Mara Venier, too). But it is Marrakech Express (1989) which marks his style and the main themes of his film production: manly fellowship, the journey as a tribute to escape or as a defection from the pressure of history, the South of Italy as a possible way out. These are the themes of Turné (1990, shot in Apulia), Mediterraneo (1991, Academy Award for the Best Foreign Film), Puerto Escondido (1992) and Sud (1993, shot in Sicily). After the foray into the future with Nirvana (1997), Salvatores works more or less successfully with original subjects which permit him to get rid of the difficult situation of comedy (Denti in 2000 reflects existential obsession) up to the full success of Io non ho paura.