09/09/2010

Matteo Botrugno and Daniele Coluccini have made an impressive feature debut with their ensemble story Peace on Earth, all the more impressive for the fact that it was made for under €100,000. There is no dolce vita in this straightforward film that neither glamorizes nor judges the quiet desperation of its characters, who live in Corviale, a kilometre-long cement monstrosity on the outskirts of Rome.

The cast is headed by Maurizio Tesei, who plays Marco, an ex-con recently released from jail for drug dealing. Abandoned by his wife and daughter, and broke, he gets roped back into dealing for his old friends (Simone Crisari, Riccardo Flammini), for whom he moreover took the fall.

Sitting on a bench in front of the building, waiting for clients, Marco wearily observes the lives around him, as if watching a massive ant colony whose inhabitants march on with determination in a vicious cycle that offers few ways out.

A second storyline centres on Faustino (Michele Botrugno), Massimo (Germano Gentile) and Federico (Fabio Gomiero), who wile away the hours doing drugs, complaining about their boredom and getting into fights with other small-time delinquents. The only character actively working on getting herself out of the neighbourhood is Sonia (Ughetta D'Onorascenzo), who tends bar in the local hangout to put herself through university.

A senseless act of violence will bring them together in this film that may sound bleak, yet is not. Far from it. The sun is almost always shining in this restrained and technically polished film that places story before style – except for in the two, key scenes of violence.

Botrugno and Coluccini also deftly avoid rhetoric and social commentary because, as they said after the film’s successful Venice Days screening, “We didn’t want to make a movie about the reasons behind these social problems but focus instead on the loneliness of characters who could be living in any big city in the world.” The anonymity and solitude are further conveyed in the all-round strong performances of the tightly woven cast.

Peace on Earth was produced by Gianluca Arcopinto and Simone Isola for Kimera Film and Settembrini Film. World sales are handled by Ellipsis Media International and domestic distribution is in the works.