Lamerica . Weekly Alibi . 12-11-96

Lamerica

DIRECTED BY: Gianni Amelio

REVIEWED: 12-11-96

A sort of modern day neo-realist film by way of Italy (where else). Director Gianni Amelio tells the haunting, sad tale of Gino, an Italian con man who come to post-communist Albania in hopes of starting a dummy corporation and reaping riches from the country's battered economy. To get past Albanian law, Gino and his partners appoint a senile old man named Spiro to be president of the company. But when Spiro wanders off, Gino must go on an epic quest across the impoverished countryside to find him. As he is progressively stripped of his money, his jeep, his clothes, our protagonist begins to learn a few important lessons about life. The parallel between the poor Albanian emigrants he encounters who look to Italy as the golden land of opportunity and poor Mexicans who do the same with America is powerful and downright creepy.

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Lamerica

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