A Chiara Review: Compelling Italian Drama Is Engaging & Thematically Rich
Though it may resemble one at times,A Chiara is not a coming-of-age movie in the traditional sense. It is bound to the perspective of its 15-year-old protagonist, yes, but as much as she tries to claw her way there, the film is not designed to track her transition from childhood to (young) adulthood. Instead, it is the concept of «coming of age» that writer-director Jonas Carpignano aims to interrogate. Set in a social and familial structure that puts great emphasis on the milestone of growing up, to a degree that proves increasingly sinister, A Chiara quietly and compellingly makes the case for a minor's right to self-determination by revealing how easy it is for someone to be bound to a life they wouldn't have chosen for themselves.
This Italian-language drama set in the Southern region of Calabria begins as Chiara (Swamy Rotolo) and her family gather to celebrate her sister Giulia's (Grecia Rotolo) 18th birthday. The festive atmosphere of speeches and dancing turns sour later that night when a car is bombed outside Chiara's house and she witnesses her father, Claudio (Claudio Rotolo), fleeing on foot. When the girl's mother, Carmela (Carmela Fumo), rebuffs her demand for answers by telling her she's too young and wouldn't understand, she is frustrated but undeterred. When she learns from watching the news that Claudio is wanted by the authorities in connection with 'Ndrangheta, the mafia that has deep roots in her region, she determines to find him by doing the one thing that could put her most at risk: Asking questions.
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Though young and dangerously out of her depth, Chiara is a force of determination, and the movie moves along at the steady
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