(Vendetta Films)

A girl sacrifices all to testify against the Sicilian mafia. Based on a true story.

An overlooked but well-worth-catching flick is The Sicilian Girl, a 2009 cinematic recreation of the real-life title character, a young woman who stands up to the Mafia and becomes a martyr for the cause. In the film, Rita (Veronica D'Agostino) grows up in a Mafia family but when her father is brutally gunned down, to the accompaniment of shutters slamming closed, she becomes sufficiently angry that she becomes an influential informant against the local crime lords. She forms an uneasy alliance with a Judge (Gérard Jugnot) and together they work on methodically bringing the villains to justice. As co-writer and director of this movie, Marco Amenta does a solid, if straightforward, job. This is not a complex film – it’s a matter-of-fact experience and a highly emotive one. In the lead role, D’Agostino is a refreshingly non-glamorous and realistic presence – one can imagine the Hollywood version would be content with having Megan Fox wearing lots of black. Instead, D’Agostino is a strong-eyed embodiment of controlled rage, her emotive outbursts balanced with an almost scholarly level of detail in assembling evidence against the Mafia. If there’s any criticism of her performance, it’s that she’s possibly too intense – in the film’s few lighter, romantic scenes, it’s a genuine relief to see her smiling. Another striking element is the sheer level of fear the Mafia have brought down on the Sicilian townsfolk in this film; Even Rita’s widowed mother has a firm “don’t get involved” attitude towards her husband’s death. The film makes it quite clear that Rita’s sacrifice was indeed a worthy one, if ultimately tragic. Amenta and his cast have collaborated on a simple but effective story, powerfully and viscerally told.

***

MATT THROWER

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