This is a completely mental police procedural from Fernando Di Leo that just has to be seen to be believed! A teacher of illiterate teenagers is raped, tortured and murdered by her class of street kids and teen criminals, apparently fuelled by nothing more than absinthe and evil. But police investigator Lamberti knows there is more to it and sets about some crazy interrogations of the kids to find out what was behind this event. It then gets weirder!
Let me get it out of the way first: this is a brilliant film. It is filmed in such a claustrophobic manner (all sweaty close ups and handheld camera and focus pulls rather than moving the camera) that there is hardly ever an empty space in the frame and you start feeling you are in the same room as these people! It is ferociously paced with lulls only where necessary to the story, you get grabbed and dragged along. The story unfolds a little at a time getting more strange and confusing as each reveal takes place. Though I did guess what was going on before the end, I nevertheless felt no disappointment, more I admired the film for actually going along with the craziness I had guessed!
Lamberti is played by Pier Paulo Capponi and it's a fine performance. He seems to throw himself into the part and is utterly believable as the dedicated but flawed policeman. The kids are often too stubbly and square of jaw to buy as genuine 16 year olds, and some of their wigs are startlingly badly fitting, but this doesn't hamper the story after the initial sniggering. The key teenager parts are played by good actors who make themselves believable as youngsters lost in a world of crime bigger than them.
The Raro DVD release is a gem. A beautiful print and transfer that I cannot fault. It is presented in 16:9 anamorphic and occasionally I found the "close up" look of the film so close that I wondered if it was shot originally in 1.33:1 or 1.66:1 then matted for the widescreen - there are lots of chins and tops of heads missing - but the close up nature of the photography serves the story so well that is hard to make a conclusion. Either way, it looks amazing and the audio is great - at least in the Italian track I selected. A word here about the music by Silvano Spadaccino; it's a mixed soundtrack of lush light romantic strings one minute, harsh brass stab accents the next, then random electronic warbles and wibbles like something from an experimental Krautrock album! It is superb! The changing moods of the film are accurately reflected by the changing score and the music is a valuable part of why this film works so well.
I cannot recommend this enough. If you have even the tiniest interest in Italian crime films - of the 70s or any era! - then this is an essential view. Just superb.
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