Movies whose story takes place mostly within the walls of a prison are a genre unto themselves. There are many prison dramas that figure with capital letters in the history of cinema, from ‘Escape or victory’ to ‘Life imprisonment’, passing through ‘The green mile’, ‘The great escape’, ‘The midnight express’ or ‘ A prophet’, to cite some recognized titles. Far from running out as raw material, prison as a setting continues to bear fruit in fiction, with original stories such as the one at hand, ‘Ariaferma’, one of the most interesting premieres of the weekend, whose biggest claim is the interpretive duel between two greats of current Italian cinema, the veterans Toni Servillo and Silvio Orlando, seen in must-watch films such as ‘La gran belleza’ or ‘El caiman’ respectively.
Under the direction of Leonardo di Costanzo (‘The Bridges of Sarajevo’) they play two antagonistic roles that end up meeting, because after all, although the first is a security agent and the second a convict, they survive under the same roof. The film aspires to eleven David di Donatello Awards, the Italian Goyas.
‘Ariaferma’ had its international premiere in the Official Section of the Venice Festival and opened the Italian Film Festival in Barcelona. He visits the billboard looking for his place, the auteur cinema circuit and original version, with several points in his favor, apart from the excellent authorial work. The action, structured mainly by the dialogue between the inmates and the guards, takes place in a prison whose days are numbered. Before being closed, there are only a handful of inmates left and several officials who remain at the foot of the canyon, reluctantly, carrying out their work a few days after the definitive closure of the prison.
The atmosphere of the penitentiary, which dates back to the 19th century, is exceptional, as is the portrayal of the atmosphere between the locked up criminals and the security guards. Sometimes, they behave just as cruelly, or show unexpected emotions. Due to bureaucratic problems that affect everyone, it is difficult to leave the place and conflicts arise. The interesting thing is that there is a continuous tension, it can be cut with a knife, but as a spectator we are not capable of imagining what can happen while the protocols are softened and the rules of the game change in a strange environment of coexistence.
The filming of ‘Ariaferma’ took place in a real prison, with everything that entails. The pulse between Servillo and Orlando is growing for the benefit of suspense. Power relations are on the table. A recommendable film, far from clichés, with a good calm rhythm that offers a different vision of a complex subject. Italian film gourmands will especially like it, whose characters have the ability to penetrate deeply when they are well described.
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