The interpretive duel between two great veterans of Italian cinema flies over in an estimable prison drama with a successful atmosphere, which aspires to eleven David di Donatello awards
Movies whose story takes place mostly within prison walls are a genre unto themselves. There are many prison dramas that figure in capital letters in the history of cinema, from ‘Escape or Victory’ to ‘Life imprisonment’, through ‘The Green Mile’, ‘The Great Escape’, ‘The Midnight Express’ or ‘ A prophet’, to name a few well-known titles. Far from running out as raw material, the 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 greatest claim is the interpretive duel between two greats of today’s Italian cinema, veterans Toni Servillo and Silvio Orlando, seen in must-see films such as ‘The Great Beauty’ or ‘The Alligator’ 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 Film Festival and opened the Mostra de Cine Italiano de Barcelona. He visits the billboard looking for his place, the auteur film 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 before the definitive closure of the prison.
An image of ‘Ariaferma’.
The atmosphere of the penitentiary, which dates back to the 19th century, is exceptional, as is the portrayal of the environment 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 viewer we are not able to imagine 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 goes with it. The pulse between Servillo and Orlando is growing to the benefit of suspense. Power relations are on the table. A recommendable film, far from clichés, with a good calm rhyme that offers a different vision of a complex subject. It will especially appeal to gourmets of Italian cinema, whose characters have the ability to go deep when they are well described.
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