Lamerica, written and directed by Gianni Amelio - 8.1 out of 10

Lamerica, written and directed by Gianni Amelio
8.1 out of 10


You can find Lamerica on The New York Times' Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list.

The film has also won a number of 21 prizes, with the European Film of the Year 1994 perhaps the most important of them.
It has a narrative that is alas familiar for those who live in the Eastern part of Europe, behind what was once the infamous Iron Curtain from one of Winston Churchill's speeches.

While there are a few countries that have been devasted by the communist regime, while Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states have been rather quick to progress economically- albeit the Poles and Hungarians have recently regressed politically- others have been plagued by corruption and other calamities.

My country is more like Albania from this point of view, seeing that even at the present, we are ruled by a clique of gangsters, robbers and 'wise guys' just as in Goodfellas.
In Lamerica, two Italians arrive in Albania to strike it rich, by speculating on the chaos, the corrupt system that would make theirs scheme easy to put in practice.

They intend to use the Western funds available for what we would call today startups, but to embezzle them, not to launch a legitimate, clean businesses.
Gino is the younger entrepreneur and Fiore is the mastermind of the operation.

They need a local translator who would work as a fixer - a job I used to do after the 'Romanian Revolution'.
However, their would be Albanian master of ceremonies enrages the Godfather.

He brings in a woman that he recommended as the popular figure who has pushed down one of the symbols of the old regime, when the Big Change took place.

She would be heading the company, but they discover she shares the Selimi name with the translator.
He insists she is just a distant cousin, basically no relation.

The Italians look for a straw man, one who would sign documents, get the title of president of the firm, but in name only.
They find their candidate in one of the worse places on earth, a crowded former institution for old people.

If in the tyranny they were made to clean the place, it is now in squalor and ruin, like so many places hit by the communist hurricanes.
 they find their old man, Spiro, the trip through this Ghost Land is surreal.

Gino drives to the place where the old man is placed under supposed care, only to find that the old man is gone.
The abjection, extreme poverty, havoc, aggressive attitude, pessimism they encounter On The Road are striking.

Gino parks the small Suzuki where a policeman is, asking him to watch over it.
When he returns, the car has no wheels, for they have been stolen.

'The man of the law' is missing too.

When they take a bus, it looks like one of those infamous Indian trains, overcrowded and dangerous.
Indeed, the police stop it and there is shooting.

When the Italian would be Mafioso complains about the theft, the officer makes it clear there is nothing he or anyone can do about it.
Before they embarked on this Wild Ride, they met with a minister to get approval and bribe him.

The film is impressive and Enrico Lo Verso is marvelous as Gino.
Nevertheless, the actor playing Spiro seems to have been an unfortunate choice.

For this viewer, he was obnoxious, unpleasant and altogether not the kind of figure one hopes to see winning victories.
I kept waiting for something to happen to him and have him leave the plot...