Ladro di bambini, Il (1992)

Director:

Gianni Amelio

Writers:

Giorgia Cecere (dialogue) and
Gianni Amelio (writer)

Release Date:

3 March 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Antonio, a policeman (carabiniere), has an order to take two children (Rosetta and her brother Luciano) from Milan to Sicily to an orphanage...

Plot Keywords:

Carabinieri | Brother Sister Relationship | Child Abuse | Mother Daughter Relationship | Police Custody

Awards:

12 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Enrico Lo Verso	...	Antonio
Valentina Scalici	...	Rosetta
Giuseppe Ieracitano	...	Luciano
Florence Darel	...	Martine
Marina Golovine	...	Nathalie
Fabio Alessandrini	...	Grignani
Agostino Zumbo	...	Priest
Vitalba Andrea	...	Antonio's Sister
Massimo De Lorenzo	...	Papaleo
Celeste Brancato	...	Girl at Dinner
Vincenzo Peluso	...	Carabiniere
Santo Santonocito	...	Carabiniere
Renato Carpentieri	...	Chief of Police
Maria Pia Di Giovanni	...	Mother of Rosetta and Luciano
Lello Serao	...	Arrested Man

Also Known As:

Enfants volés, Les (France)
Gestohlene Kinder (Germany)
The Stolen Children

Runtime:

114 min | Finland:116 min (1993)

Country:

France | Germany | Italy | Switzerland

Language:

Italian

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-10 | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Marina di Ragusa, Ragusa, Sicily, Italy

Company:

Alia Film

Trivia:

Director Gianni Amelio was inspired to write this film after reading an article in a newspaper.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Joannis Amaelii, animula, vagula blandula (1992)

Il ladro di bambini (aka Stolen Children) is the best film I have ever seen!

The child actors are supreme and the plot development feels real from beginning to end.

There are very few films that can make us confront a difficult issue without resorting to maudlin tears or some other form of emotional manipulation. This is one of them -- no Hollywood treatment here.

And I like the fact that the trip is a journey -- both physically and spiritually. It starts in the north of Italy and leads us progressively towards its southern extremity in Sicily. As the children migrate to the South, our hopes and hearts warm as we come to expect a new emotional climate for them. As with any film intending to make a serious comment on the devestating nature of child abuse, something intervenes to prove to us that our hopes are premature.... This film betrays no compromise in its portrayal of innocence lost and regained and lost once again. The scene at the end with the girl comforting her brother is one of the most poignant I know in film.

I would put this film at the top of a narrow list of films addressing childhood trauma (including "Salaam Bombay!" and "Alice in the Cities"). But the perfection of the child actors, the tremendous care of the storytelling (director Gianni Amelio co-authored the screenplay), and the generous, ambulant scenery make this film a standout that has seldom been rivaled.