{"id":10301,"date":"2022-05-25T21:31:28","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T01:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=10301"},"modified":"2022-05-25T21:31:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T01:31:28","slug":"a-chiara-an-enlightening-ndrangeta-coming-of-age-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=10301","title":{"rendered":"A Chiara, An Enlightening \u2018Ndrangeta Coming-Of-Age Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

The very young Swamy Rotolo won the David di Donatello Award for Best Leading Actress\u00a0 <\/span>(the Italian Oscar) in A Chiara<\/i><\/b>, directed by Joans Carpignano. The film conquered the festival circuit, starting from Cannes where it earned the Best European Film Prize, as part of the Europa Cinemas Label competition of the Quinzaine des R\u00e9alisateurs; as well as the Award for Best Film at the Zurich Film Festival.<\/p>\n

The family drama is set in Calabria \u2014 the Italian region famous for its sprawling beaches, the Greek settlements that made it go by the name of Magna Gr\u00e6cia<\/i>, the delicious horn-shaped red chilli pepper (peperoncino), the traditional Calabrian spreadable spicy sausage (Nduja), and the regional Mafia called \u2018Ndrangheta. A Chiara<\/i><\/b> unveils only the latter aspect of this land, through the story of the Guerrasio family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The whole family has gathered to celebrate the 18th<\/sup> birthday of Chiara\u2019s older sister. Everyone seems happy and close-knit. But the day after the party the father, Claudio, without any warning leaves their hometown of Gioia Tauro \u2014 the municipality that serves all the business controlled by the \u2018Ndrangheta, from Colombian cocaine to the illegal arms trade. The 15 year old Chiara, with a strong and determined character, wants to understand what prompted her father to disappear. All this will lead her to look at her loved ones and her town with new eyes and to question her future.<\/p>\n

Director Jonas Carpignano, born in 1984 from a Barbadian mother and the great-nephew of Italian filmmaker Luciano Emmer, grew up between Rome and New York. But Calabria is his elected land of inspiration: his muse. Carpignano\u2019s first feature film, Mediterranea<\/i><\/b>, was selected in Cannes in 2015, whilst his second feature, A Ciambra<\/i><\/b>, premiered in 2017 at the Directors\u2019 Fortnight. With A Chiara<\/i><\/b>, Carpignano concludes his Trilogy about Gioia Tauro, where his three features were shot. As an artistic device to link the three films, his latest film features two significant cameos: that of Koudous Seihon from Mediterranea <\/i><\/b>and that of Pio Amato from A Ciambra<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

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Director Jonas Carpignano and Actress Swamy Rotolo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following the style of his previous works, Carpignano prefers non-professional actors, to which he dedicates time in character construction through a spontaneous process that allows the script to develop during filming. This approach, that reminds the Neorealistic method, is combined with a cinematography that utilises an intentionally low resolution. The use of the hand-held camera combined with swift wide shots, along with the frequent soft-blur effects and blending of the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, create a dark fairytale mystique.<\/p>\n

This final chapter of Carpignano\u2019s Calabrian triptych is a traditional coming-of-age story, where our heroine, Chiara, needs to make a choice between the love for her family and the urge to be reborn to a new life and shape her true identity. Once she acknowledges the suffocating reality that lies ahead if she follows in her father\u2019s footsteps, she needs to decide whether to shuffle off the compromising coil. Thus, the film brings to attention the \u2018Free to choose\u2019 programme that aids women and children who want to leave Italy\u2019s mafia clans. This initiative of the Italian judiciary was created to break the generational cycle of crime families.<\/p>\n

This story reflects the spiralling effect of how the sins of the fathers are to be laid upon the children. There is a long list of women from \u2018Ndrangheta families, who couldn\u2019t cope with the weight of a surname that was synonymous with extortion, exploitation and murders.\u00a0An example was Maria Rita Lo Giudice the daughter of an \u2018Ndrangheta boss, who committed suicide in 2017. But there are also those who found the courage to defy this criminal organisation. Two of these brave females are even mentioned in A Chiara<\/i><\/b>: Giuseppina Pesce and Maria Concetta Cacciola. Their courage has inspired a Disney+ TV series that will produce The good mothers<\/i><\/b>, about the \u2018Ndrangheta and the women who challenged it. It will chronicle the stories of Pesce and Cacciola, as well as that of Lea Garofalo. Through his filmic storytelling, Jonas Carpignano has definitely paved the way to do justice to these righteous rebels.<\/p>\n

Final Grade: B+<\/p>\n

Check out more of Chiara\u2019s articles<\/a>.<\/p>\n