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ANGELA
Roberta Torre, Italy, 2002
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Based on a true story, this smart, slow-burning Sicilian mob drama is a welcome alternative to all the Mafia films that glamourise gangster bling with slick visuals and searing soundtracks.
As its title suggests, the wise guys in Angela are reduced to supporting roles in favour of a refreshing female focus. At the centre of the film is a cool, creditable performance from Donatella Finocchiaro, who remains something of an enigma as the eponymous heroine.
Angela is the attractive but hard-bitten wife of ageing Mafioso Saro. In the lively city of Palermo, Angela and Saro have established a lucrative business running drugs out of the family shoe store. More than just a gangster's moll, Angela is the delivery girl who transports the goods across the city at high risk. The pivotal role she plays in the organisation is the cause of much annoyance among Saro's associates who both exclude and undervalue her.
The exception is Masino 'The Shark' Santalucia, who woos Angela away from her husband. As her relationship with Masino blossoms, Angela's life becomes evermore shrouded in secrecy. A handheld camera follows her through the shadowy back streets and back rooms of Palermo, spying on these characters like the eyes of the undercover surveillance team closing in on Saro's gang.
Torre presents the lives of these sinister villains without the excessive and often gruesome brutality inherent in the genre. The only 'hit' seen here occurs in the blink of an eye and is largely obscured for the viewer. The director is instead more concerned with depicting the difficulties of sanitising the crime scene after the murder.
Chris Wiegand
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Gloria (John Cassavetes, 1980)