Barnabo delle montagne

I was very confused by this film. To be honest, I am not sure I understood the film. Repetitive scenes (blood on the palm of barnabo) and symbolic object(red wine, fog) made me think of lego(?)puzzle. And the girl's attitude? I don't particularly like being tested by a film with christian theme, in particular. I can not judge whether this film is a pretentious art flick or genuine question mark. But I was mesmerised by the images and the beauty of silence. I think I need second view in order to make up my mind.

I'm sorry, this is not new neorealism. It is not the place to take a lesson about neo-neo-Realism, but we have some difficults even in defining neo-Realism. This movie is for sure more symbolist than realistic, with its "hyeratic" characters and its dilatation of dramatic times. However it's a masterpiece for those who love mountain-movies: they will find a powerful reflection on human nature, supported by Franz Schubert's Adagio taken from streichquintett D956. And they will love it.

A failed attempt to normalise everything in Dino Buzzati's first novel that feels original, unsettling and poetic. Two hours of silent poses in the film cannot compare at all with this laconic, but full of emotion book. There aren't women in most of Buzzati's works and it is not by chance - why add them, to "compensate" what? There is no equivalent of a film score in his "Barnabo" - no embellishments/explanations, just raw nature (human and other). The original story is about a man who needs to learn to live with himself - and by the end he does. Still not sure what the film "Barnabo" is about, but it bored the hell out of me.

Despite the technical quality of the film, the director misses the point of Buzzati's superb novel, whose atmosphere is dominated in every sense by the peculiar relationship between man and mountain, with its hard edges and severe ways, but also with its poetry and complex, magical and delicate feelings. The film's plot could on the contrary be easily shifted in any other environment - only the personal story of the main character, Barnabo, is inherited from the book. I don't know whether the director's purpose was to be realistic, but honestly I suspect that on the contrary this film is just a missed attempt at poetry. I strongly suggest reading the novel instead of watching the movie, it doesn't take much longer and it's a better value for money.

In this film Brenta engages a minimilistic realist tone to explore the alienation felt by the character to stunning and hypnotic effect. An almost impressionistic text, Barnabo is stunningly shot and moves away from the rampant commercialist slurry of most euro multi country co-productions. The lack of distribution of this film on video is significant of the lack of adventure that seems to be currently characterising video distributers. It should be ranked among the forefront of Italian 90's cinema. Ed Crooks