Direction: Jonas Carpignano
Country: Italy
With a focused handheld camera, in an observant style close to documentary, Jonas Carpignano confirms the growing scope of his cinema in A Chiara. This drama film, being realistic and objective as well as rugged and heartbreaking, is the last part of his Calabrian trilogy around the port town of Gioia Tauro, following Mediterranea (2015) and A Ciambra (2017). For this purpose, he filmed a real family, the Rotolos.
The last chapter depicts the tribulations of Chiara (Swamy Rotolo), a tenacious 15-year-old student who decides to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her father (Claudio Rotolo) after an important family celebration. Ploughing a lonely furrow, from doubt to doubt, from clue to clue, Chiara sadly realizes that her father works for the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia-type organization that employs so many families in the region. More than anything, this astute teenager needs to understand what’s going on. She’s fiercely determined to know the truth, facing obstacles and maturely judging the options that may lead her to a better future.
A Chiara is more family-oriented in its vision than a stereotyped mafia thriller. Despite the protracted party scenes at the beginning, Carpignano signs an honest film in which the atmosphere is heavy and the realism magnified by the fact that the mafia members, played by non-professional actors, are of the ordinary type. The young protagonist, who was first noticed in the casting of A Ciambra, fulfilled with distinction the role that the director had in mind for her.
You will feel some suffocation among the tension and friction, and the result can be slightly disturbing in its forthrightness.
