Cheap Respiro (DVD) (Valeria Golino, Vincenzo Amato (II), Francesco Casisa) (Emanuele Crialese) Price

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Customer Reviews of Respiro

Get away for a while
This movie to me was just entering the life of another community far from mine. it was interesting to see how they lived and the way their community worked. You'll meet a boy and soon after his family who have to deal with their mothers apparent mental issues where she just doesnt seem to behave correctly and sometimes looses control. in the end tho it seemed more about the family and their life and how the community was also a part of it. The plot to the movie is different.. just like a glimpse to their world then ends. I was a bit dissapointed as i hoped for more of a storeyline or atleast a memorable ending. but afterwards i felt it went with the flow of the movie and would be something i may want to watch on occasion.. if your looking for an action flick or edge of your seat movie this is not it tho. Valeria is also very pretty and to me resembles an italian Sarah Jessica Parker (just my opinion)

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Hopelessly enigmatic
I defy anyone, even an Italian, even an Italian from the same region of beach as this movie was shot, to explain what in the world this movie was about. Golino's performance was quite good, the other actors were good, but the story behind this left me feeling like I'd just wasted 2 hours of my life.
Five stars for enigma, one star for watchability.

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Are there still people and places like this?
Poking around the internet for reviews of this film the words "inscrutable," "pointless," and "underdeveloped" keep cropping up. Could my taste for film really be that bad? Upon reading the reviews, however, it becomes apparent that most have missed the point of the film.

Respiro is about a fishing village in Lampedusa and probably thousands of other small villages in the world where AN EFFORT TO FEIGN OR SHOW RESPECT (face-saving) goes a hell of a long way.

Pietro is a fisherman who acts like the bad-ass patriarch in public, but is soft as a marshmallow at home. One scene that showed this is when a neighbor demands punishment for Pietro's son's for misconduct, Pietro manhandles the kid then placates the man by asking him to whip the boy. When the man refuses and tells Pietro to discipline the kid himself, a quick and subtle expression hesitation flashes across his face before he belts the boy a few quick ones. This act of deference to the neighbor is immediately accepted with gratitude and almost relief by the plaintiff, and all is settled.

Another humorous scene shows Pietro telling his wife Grazia to take a hike because he is engaged in "man-talk" with a couple of pals. When she leaves we find out the conversation is about Pietro's son winning a train-set at a toy stall.

This sort of phony machismo is also played out in fights the village youth gangs engage in. No one really throws punches but instead everyone rolls around on the ground. This ritualized fighting appears to allow all to let off steam without developing true animosity.

Even the local cops feign machismo by engaging in a not-so-high speed chase of three harmless girls on a Vespa.

Grazia, being manic-depressive, has a hard time with these kind of games and embarrasses others. Not knowing how to deal with her, the village suggest sending her off to an institution to Milan. When the angry Grazia learns of this she hides and is thought to have committed suicide. This elevates her status to that of a saint, and when she is found all are happy not because their "saint" has returned but because all can PRETEND to believe their "saint" has returned--thereby condoning her continued existence in the village.

Respiro is about these kinds of communities where people don't sue or kill each other... What is sought is "Face." This is quite like how dogs relate to each other. Agressive behavior is displayed to elicit submission from the other dog, and as long as everyone follows this rule all is fine. In fact this example shows up in the film where Pietro, who is afraid of the family dog, gets rid of it because he is threatened by it's growls. He feels demeaned because he doesn't command respect from the dog.