While organized crime has been a longtime curse on society, it's been a longtime blessing for filmmakers. With their inherent bloodiness and intrigue, stories about criminal organizations are tailor-made for big-screen treatments (and, as The Sopranos attests, first-rate small-screen treatments). If the stories are true, so much the better; a typical Mafia-related tale of violence, shifting familial loyalties and vengeance is all the more gripping if it's based on true events.
The Sicilian Girl (now available on DVD) is such a movie, based on the true story of Rita Atria, a Sicilian teenager who dared to break the code of silence about her family's Mafia ties. But its predictable story, weak character development and penchant for dour melodrama make it far less gripping than it could have been.
Atria (called Rita Mancuso in the film, and played by Veronica D'Agostino) was born into a Mafia family in the Sicilian town...
The Sicilian Girl (now available on DVD) is such a movie, based on the true story of Rita Atria, a Sicilian teenager who dared to break the code of silence about her family's Mafia ties. But its predictable story, weak character development and penchant for dour melodrama make it far less gripping than it could have been.
Atria (called Rita Mancuso in the film, and played by Veronica D'Agostino) was born into a Mafia family in the Sicilian town...
- 12/6/2010
- by Don Clinchy
- Slackerwood
Rarely does a mob movie center on the women of the mafia — the wives, mothers and daughters behind the men who thieve and murder. In “The Sicilian Girl,” however, the deadly code of silence isn’t enough to keep feisty Rita Atria (Veronica D’Agostino) quiet when her beloved father is gunned down on the streets of her Sicilian village right in front of her. Just a child at the time, she vows revenge, but her brother (Carmelo Galati) urges her to bide her time. She begins to keep a diary and take photographs.
Years later, when Rita is 17, her brother, too, is killed, and she takes her journals to the anti-mafia prosecutor (Gérard Jugnot) in Palermo. Her motive is vengeance, but when she realizes that her father and brother were just as guilty as the men she seeks to punish for their deaths, her moral code — which initially distinguishes...
Years later, when Rita is 17, her brother, too, is killed, and she takes her journals to the anti-mafia prosecutor (Gérard Jugnot) in Palermo. Her motive is vengeance, but when she realizes that her father and brother were just as guilty as the men she seeks to punish for their deaths, her moral code — which initially distinguishes...
- 9/13/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
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