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Poster (c) Miramax Films
Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) is an average 10 year old boy in Southern Italy. He enjoys playing small games with his friends and sister. When his sister's glasses fall off, he goes to find them and discovers a pit in the ground where he finds a body that's barely alive. It's a boy named Filippo (Mattia Di Pierro), who is chained in the pit and seems to be fed just to be kept alive. Michele befriends the boy and learns offhand why the boy was put there.
The story is a simple, forced coming-of-age story. The boy is forced to make decisions that are clearly too advanced for him, but he deals with it the best he can. He may seem like a hero, because he's helping out the boy in the hole, but to me he didn't seem like one, because he had to rely on other people to get his information. I did think that at times it was suspenseful, and it was always involving. It was beautiful to look at, also. But Michele just had no common sense-he didn't alert anyone about this. Sure, he may have been scared (which makes the title useless), but still! Why not at least try to get the proper authorities in on it?
One major qualm I had about it was the ending. I was able to tell it from about halfway into the movie. And then, after it, it's basically a deus ex machina story. The drama that had been created through the previous hour and a half is deleted by this cheap ending. I did think that the majority of the acting was pretty good. The drama was built up to an ultimately predictable and unsatisfying ending, but I'm Not Scared is still a good movie. Try to catch it before it's too late.
Rated R for disturbing images and language.
Review Date: July 2, 2004