Second world war deserters upset the lives of an isolated mountain community in this outstanding second feature from Maura Delpero
he year is 1944. But the remote Italian Alpine village of Vermiglio is a place of timeless rhythms and rituals, unchanged for centuries. There’s a precarious poetry to life in this ice-bound little community: the clear, widescreen drama of the backdrop is a contrast to the darker reality of a brutally high infant mortality rate and perpetual gnawing hunger. It’s a world away from the war consuming the rest of Europe.
is exquisite. There’s a rough, earthy tenderness to the picture and a kinship with other recent examples of Italian folk cinema . Delpero opts for an unvarnished realism rather than the pagan abandon of some of Rohrwacher’s cinema, but her film shares the sense of exploring a richly realised, self-contained microcosm.
An unprecedented scandal shakes the community midway through the story. It has a seismic impact on the villagers; it also shifts the film-making approach. From the intimate restraint of the early scenes, Delpero’s direction becomes more fractured and abrasive. It’s a remarkable work.
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