BLISS Rating: ★★★★+
“What we do in secret can last hundreds of years.” – Quote from Fireworks
This movie lulls you into a sense of tranquility and at the end hits you with such a strong reality jolt that, for a moment, you sit there, stunned. You might indeed ask yourself, “What did I just watch?” While not exactly a true story, the concept of the plot is loosely based on verifiable information and its outcome is – true. I shall not give away the ending for you as it is solemnly consequential. All I shall tell you, is that our star-crossed lovers will always be remembered for holding hands…
Go back to Sicily in the early 80’s and put yourself in a very conservative Catholic little town called Giarre. A young 17-year-old boy named Gianne (Samuele Segreto) works quietly in his mother’s boyfriend’s moped bike repair shop. While the provinciale is a sleepy small hamlet, it is still full of big gossip and machismo arrogance. Everybody knows Gianne’s ‘secret’, having been spilled by his so-called female best friend. So, the males in this small locale feel as if they have the right to torture and bully Gianne with impunity. Meanwhile, his mother, Lina (Simona Malato), stands by and watches and even contributes to his torturing. Somehow, she feels as if it is her duty as a citizen, a religious individual, a pillar of the community, to be against her own son to maintain her status as an upstanding woman of character.
Gianne is powerless to stop any of this. He is one young man trying to survive in a world that is effectively against him. Of course, there are closeted male leaders of this same community who would love to use him for their own sexual pleasures, but when he refuses their advances, they chase after him.
In one such instance, he has an accident with another young man about the same age as him. Nino (Gabriele Pizzurro) is 16 years old and is a beautiful creature, much like Gianne. Seemingly unlikely at first, they form a fast friendship, and it becomes obvious that a unique bond exists between the two of them. Tired of being bullied at home, Gianne begins to spend more and more time with Nino and his family, where he is welcomed and made to feel like a part of that family.
Nino’s father is sick with asthma, and because their family are experts in the distribution and use of fireworks, as he gets sicker, Nino asks his father if Gianne can become his assistant so that his father could rest. Because he is a good worker and has been accepted by Nino’s extended family, the father agrees. Thus, the two of them begin to spend even more time together and their relationship intensifies until it finally spills over into a physical one. This then becomes their magical and ecstatic time to explore each other and to live in full euphoria and felicity. Unfortunately, on one of their work jaunts, a neighbor of the family sees Nino and Gianne embracing. Gossip and rumors begin. Then Nino’s mother receives a call from Gianne’s mother.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this movie? This is an intensely acted movie with some stellar performances, but none captures the agony of the times better than Simona Malato as Lina, the mother of Gianne. Her relationship with her son is complex. A mixture of intense hatred of him as well as maternal love. As his mother she loved him, perhaps even deeply but she is wounded and takes it personally that he is gay. She feels burdened by him and sees nothing but grief and trouble for her son for the rest of his life. And she cannot and will not accept that and sees it as a curse. While their relationship is complex, Gianne adores his mother. But she betrayed him to the depths of his soul. She called the mother of Nino to warn her to keep her son away from Gianne because he will merely lead another person down a path to isolation like his life will be and she as the mother will be hapless. How a mother, who is worshiped by her son, can be so cruel, heartless, and traitorous, is incomprehensible. Yet she does. Simona Malato so captures the cruelty of the times, the mindset of the small-town mentality, and the credulity of the poisons of the Catholic Church. All subtle of course but so instilled into their everyday lives. Most of her acting is done without words; only in facial expressions and mannerisms. She is cold, calculating with only occasional glimpses of the motherhood of humanity. She gives a remarkable nuanced performance.
Of course, when Nino’s family finds out, the father is apoplectic and forbids Gianne from ever seeing his son again, otherwise he will kill him. Nino is forced to act as if he was ‘shocked’ to find out that Gianne is a homosexual and is disgusted by his wickedness. But nothing happened between them. Of that he assured his uncle and father. Otherwise, Nino might not have been spared his life.
Rumors and gossip fly all over the place in this sheltered locale and it is not long before Gianne is nearly beaten to death. Meanwhile as time passes, Nino withdraws further and further into himself and into isolation. One day, while the finals of the World Games are on, his friend comes to him with some advice that says that there are secrets everywhere, including some he has and he can learn to hide them. Hence, the meaning of the quote above becomes relevant.
Suddenly, Nino takes off from his home and runs to find Gianne at his home and the two of them take off to find their favorite spot – together.
This is a cinematic wonderment. Beautifully filmed and gently told until its climax. It almost has a Fellini feel about it at times because of its filming. Its town characters are filled with almost caricatures, but their actions are real. One is not sure how this film is going to end, but it ends with a bang. It left me stunned and jolted me into a reality – which films are meant to do. While this particular version is fictional, its thesis, the foundation, and subsequent outcome did – in essence – literally and figurately changed Italian society. That is how important this story was.
I would encourage all who want to know and understand how movements begin to watch this film. It will give you an idea how the seed of change begins. Sometimes, unfortunately and tragically.
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