Riparo (Shelter or Shelter Me)

This Marco S. Puccioni film tells about a couple that makes the worst possible mistake and allows a third person to come to live at their house, only to accentuate the couple multiple differences. But I also believe that is about power and about people that use money to buy people that need help.

The twist that the movie has is that two women form the couple and the third is a young Tunisian illegal alien, so you have a film that deals with two of the most crucial contemporary issues in Italy. But because of the power drama I think that the issues get lost, consequently losing the message that the director claims was his intention in many interviews I read.

But has something quite good, the performances by Antonia Liskovea that plays Mara, Maria de Mederios that plays Anna and Mounir Quadi that plays Anis are truly remarkable each with a very troubled character that have a hard time dealing with their complex and somehow contradictory lives. See Anna belongs to an upper class that does not tolerate her lifestyle, loves Mara but does not allow her to become part of her life; Mara is separated from her husband, her father is dying, is Anna’s lover and works at Anna’s family shoe factory in a manufacture line; and Anis is the typical young man that escapes his life at his country and with little knowledge of the new country language tries to easily find a new life, which obviously easily he will not find it.

As a movie is not bad as has nice cinematography that gives the movie an air of arty cinema, but does not really fit the style to become a normal European movie that tells a slice of life of the main characters. Still I believe that Puccioni and his actors did a good job, as you are able to engage with the story and the characters especially when you start to see how vulnerable each character is.

Not your usual genre film as I find that a regular couple could easily have substituted the two women couple and the story could have work the same. So, I think that this award winner film in some festivals is not for all that like the genre; you also have to like European dramas.

I liked the movie but I wouldn’t called a masterpiece; to me was an okay entertaining European movie.

Enjoy!!