We Were Children

We Were Children (or Eravamo Bambini) is a Calabrian-set drama/thriller about childhood trauma and regrets. A group of thirty-somethings return to the small seaside town of their youth to confront a situation that has affected their lives since the moment it happened twenty years before. The film begins with a police patrol coming across a suspicious bloke in the bushes beside a villa one night. He threatens them with a huge hunting knife and is summarily arrested and taken in for questioning. The story unfurls from here, with detained postie Antonio (Francesco Russo) giving the police some details, and flashbacks helping us with others.

These past scenes show a group of friends going through regular teenage issues. Margherita and Gianluca are a sweetly fumbling couple, though Walter might be a spoke in their wheel. Andrea is Margherita's irritating younger brother, and Peppino is the local senator's boy. The sun-tinged Calabrian past is juxtaposed with the more aggressively embittered present, as Gianluca (Alessio Lapice), dealing with anger issues and disciplinary procedures, texts his friends to say he's going back to settle things. Margherita (Lucrezia Guidone) is aimlessly flitting from one deadening sexual encounter to another, and Walter (Lorenzo Richelmy), AKA rapper Inferno, takes out his frustrations on stage. It would seem all of them have unfinished business in San Severino.

The build-up is clever in that it winkles out some threads but doesn't actually give us much until around the start of the third act. The preceding acts flesh out the characters and hint at what might have occurred all those years ago. Peripheral players include grown-up Andrea (Romano Reggiani), as fucked up as his older mates, if not more, and adult Peppino (Giancarlo Commare), the put-upon son of big-wig, Senator Rizzo (Massimo Popolizio). 

I'm keeping things fairly vague, as I feel going into this with little knowledge of the story helps the satisfaction levels. Suffice to say, director and co-writer, Marco Martani keeps a tight rein on proceedings and isn't afraid to go bleak with the story. And when Italian films decide to go nasty, they don't pull many punches. But it's not all gloom, in fact there's one virtuoso monologue near the end that brough a tear to this cynically encrusted eye. The hope amongst the villainy, the chink of light in all the misery.

We Were Children is a cracking drama, full of top level performances and super-smart story structuring. A surprise gem that's still showing in Perth (until Oct 23) and Adelaide (until Oct 22) at the St. Ali Italian Film Festival (in Perth, at the Palace and Luna cinemas). 

See also:

There are hints of Matteo Garrone's fantastic Gomorra (2008) and the cross-cutting timelines reminded me of the underrated Aussie film Wish You Were Here (2012), directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith.