Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Salty Air (L'Aria Salata)
Directed by Alessandro Angelini
Rai Cinema/Bianca Film 03/07 Feature Film
Not Rated

Screening at the New Directors/New Films Festival in New York City. Museum of Modern Art: March 23 at 6:00 PM; Walter Reade Theater: March 25 at 5:45 PM

Alessandro Angelini directs this Italian drama about a father-and-son reunion that goes awry. Fabio (Giorgio Pasotti) is an earnest social worker who handles day leaves and probation for prisoners. He is an independent-minded young man who has trouble accepting gifts, as his girlfriend's father discovers when he purchases a new car for him on his birthday. Fabio doesn't have much time for a love relationship and besides, he is on edge most of the time. He tries to wash away stresses and tension by running.

Things go from bad to worse for Fabio when he discovers that Sparti (Giorgio Colangeli), a man imprisoned for 20 years for murder, is his father. He and his sister Cristina (Michela Cescon) have tried to erase him from their lives, feeling that he betrayed his family. Trying to get rid of the anger of abandonment that he has carried inside for so many years, Fabio comes up with many ways to harass and torment his father. He wants him to apologize for what he did to his family and to the family of the man he murdered. Sparti also harbors deep-seated rage about how his life has developed.

When Fabio obtains a day pass for his father, the two men try to break down the walls that separate them. They decide to make an unannounced visit to Cristina at her workplace, but that does not go well at all. Fabio tries to understand his father, but the old man has his own ideas about what they should do on their one day together. For many men, reconciliation takes much more courage than anger.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat