I saw this movie in Milano at the glorious Cinema Mexico, the director was there. I didn't like it. I agree with the words that were said just before the movie was screened (the director also spoke): "courageous", trying to offer something new, very personal.. I must appreciate the attempt to do, to show something in a new, odd way. I do not think the attempt succeeded. In the movie events and characters come and go casually, not always a clue is offered about their role or meaning. Several things remain inexplicable. Too much is left to imagination, as if we could guess what's in the director's mind. This could be a minor inconvenience if the feelings, the sentiment had passed on well, if they were well represented, but they weren't. There can be many ways to give the feelings of someone immersed in the life of the forest, sinking in the dirt and in the fallen leaves, a world of smells and rough things away from civilization and men, but this was not very successful. Even "Il barone rampante" (a book) gave me a better feeling of someone (in the same geographical areas, 250 yrs before) living and breathing with mother nature alone. Very likely the instruments used were not appropriate, very likely the director didn't have enough support. We (maybe) understand what we should have felt but didn't feel it, or not enough. Another theme.. captivity against total freedom in the wild.. but that sense of becoming one with the wild has been offered in much better ways many times before. Sudden breaks into ordinary life (people speaking at a bar, driving tractors..) do not help neither. The "tale" or story told by the elders cannot give a sense to nonsense. Not sure about the music chosen for those few parts with some music. It could have been good, but it wasn't.
