Baaria

BAARÌA is Giuseppe Tornatore's lush and romantic reimagining of the life of one Sicilian man who grows up, marries, has children, matures and ages, compiling a rich breadth of experiences along the way. It is also the tale of a typical village and the entertaining dynamics of small-town life where everyone knows everyone's business.

Peppino, the nickname of the boy at the story's heart, is a tough little kid in the 1930s, used to the rough-and-tumble world of Baarìa (local slang for Tornatore's native Bagheria), a hot and dusty Sicilian village with one main street. His adventures are many and his memories singular: men gambling in the local square, goats eating his schoolbooks and the enchantment of silent film screenings. All of this plays out against the darker canvas of black-shirted fascists strutting in the streets, the declaration of World War II and the ecstatic moment of liberation when the Americans land on the island.

Slowly, a man and an individual are formed. In the chaotic tumult of post-war Baarìa, an older Peppino (Francesco Scianna) joins the Communist Party. Coming from a poor family and witnessing the humiliations meted out by local landowners, he feels socialism is the road to justice and a fairer world. When he falls head over heels for the raven-haired Mannina (Margareth Madè), however, her parents hold his party membership against him. As Peppino ages, success rubs up against failure, and pain mingles with happiness. In Baarìa, life can be simple or complicated, full of humor and sadness, but it is never uninteresting; it simply flows. Tornatore is in love with his world, his characters and his landscape. Everything comes alive under his touch. He has an unerring ability to summon the dreams and aspirations of a young man fighting for his beliefs, while also reveling in the exuberance and comedy of existence. BAARÌA captures the wonder of a lifetime of living. (official distributor synopsis)