Review of I Am Afraid

My second Damiano Damiani movie. I Am Afraid features another great performance by Gian Maria Volante. He plays a cynical, paranoid and cowardly cop in a department where his colleagues are being murdered one by one. Volante's character gets himself transferred to the seemingly safe and easy job of providing security to a judge. But trouble follows him after he alerts the judge about a police officer who might be lying about an arms deal. Soon both judge and security guard are being followed by assassins attached to the defense and secret service departments. Volante's character does not want to become a hero but only wants to save his own life. He desperately tries to get this message across to his pursuers who are coming down on him. The film is almost like a Western that takes place in a city.

The plot is really complicated. The film could have been a good 20 minutes shorter. It is quite violent and the part where a female witness is murdered is quite shocking. I couldn't help but think about Z while watching this film. Like Z, this film takes place mostly in the city and involves multiple conspiracies and murder of a number of characters. The film views the police and other authority figures in a very cynical way. In fact, at one point in the movie Volante's cop character is so desperate and paranoid that he seeks the help of his girlfriend who is sort of a leftist figure. There is a nice shootout with a porno movie playing in the background towards the end.

The score by the great Riz Ortolani is a bit cheesy. I half liked it. The print i watched wasn't that good.