Angela Movie Review:


In the small market neighbourhood of Ballarò in Palermo, Saro (Pupella) and his wife Angela (Finocchiaro) where the family that gained the most respect. Their shoe shop was extremely popular amongst the locals but selling shoes was just a front for their real business, trafficking cocaine. All is going well until Masino (Di Stefano) comes to work for Saro. There is an instant attraction between the younger and Angela, which could drag the family and the business into the hands of the investigating police.

Italian award winning director Roberta Torre brings us an insight into the Sicilian mafia and how lust can tear even “the Family” apart.

Based on a true story and told from Angela’s prospective, the movie has a very documentary feel to it, like you are witnessing the events first hand. The use of handheld camera techniques brings you closer to the situation, like you are one of the family or an employee there at the time. This works very well and increases the intensity of the drama as the key moments of Angela’s life unfold.

The acting is very good. Donatella Finocchiaro is excellent in the lead. She really draws you into the character highlighting the repetitiveness of her life and how the pursuit of wealth and power has left her but is still consuming her husband. The change when Masino enters her life is clearly visible and testament to Finocchiaro’s skill as she is able to ignite a spark in the character and her performance.

Mario Pupella plays Saro as you’d expect the head of a Mafia family to be played. He commands respect but he is so consumed by the acquisition of power and wealth that he becomes blind as to what is going on with in own house. While this might be a tad typical of many organised crime movies, Pupella’s performance is good enough to distract you from these similarities. Andrea Di Stefano is making a name for himself in European cinema and it won’t be long before Hollywood notices. This is another fine performance as the carefree Masino, who thinks nothing about pursuing the Boss’s wife. It is Di Stefano’s screen presence that adds believability to the character as you can see his confidence oozing from the character and the performance.

What lets the movie down is the lack of any type of connection with the characters. With these people been the preverbal bad guys who deserve all that is coming to them, it is hard to emphasise with any of them. You might say that you are not meant to but other filmmakers have done this successfully in the past, The Godfather movies and the Soprano’s TV show to name two.

This aside, Angela is still a fascinating insight into Sicilian Mafia culture and the fact that it is based on true events only increases the interest. With strong performances and an almost documentary style, this is an organised crime movie that is extremely watchable, even though you don’t really care what happens to the characters.

Star Rating = * * *

Jamie Kelwick

Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of Angela and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline.