The girl from the future reviews
Director: Martha Sabina | Script: Martha Sabina | Cast: Claudia Gusmano (Lia), Dario Aita (Lorenzo), Francesco Giulio Cerilli (Pietro), Manuela Ventura (Sara), Francesco Colella (Amedeo), ea | Time to play: 97 minutes | Year: 2022
The older someone is, the more likely that person came from a time when different laws applied. What embarrasses us now, was then legal. In Italy, girls who were raped had to marry the perpetrator to get rid of this sin. It is the heroes who dare to say no for the first time that bring about change. The girl from the future this is such a brave benefactor.
Before Lorenzo left for Germany, he was already flirting with Lia, the daughter of a farmer from a small town. Now that he’s back, he wants to win her over quickly, but Lia discovers that he has planned a future for her where she won’t be able to be herself. Lorenzo kidnaps her and rapes her, but he is arrested for doing so. According to the prevailing tradition, Lia must marry to save her honor. Lia is the first woman in Italian history to refuse to accept this, and it lands her in a nasty court case.
Lia wears a blue coat and a white scarf around her head; the image is not exactly subtle, it looks like the stereotypical image of the holy virgin Mary. The town in which she lives is, how could it be otherwise in the Italy of sixty years ago, impregnated with faith. But Lia is unceremoniously pocketing some money donated to the church, and she has no intention of spending her life as a housewife. She and her father toil on the land, even though her mother is ashamed of her.
Because what will others think of that? That’s the theme of the movie, the pressure to conform to other people’s expectations and the fear that people will think badly of you if you don’t agree. The steadfast Lia also seems to succumb to the increasing pressure. The story is so powerfully told and the goal so necessary that the more Lia falters, the more you cheer her up.
The theme also ties into the one man Lia can turn to for help. The former mayor of the town is also a persona non grata because he didn’t care what others thought of him and just kept to himself. His best friend is a prostitute and he has finally given up the idea of making others happy.
If you dig deeper, the subject may also be embedded in the landscape: the village is surrounded by mountains, preventing the inhabitants from getting a broad view of the world. Artistic design or not, the Italian landscape is a paradise to behold. Lia’s backyard overlooks a pass between two green mountains. Her first meeting with Lorenzo is at the top of a slope where an orchestra of cowbells sounds.
The beauty contrasts with the ugly world where a woman simply has to commit to her rapist for life. The pressure is high, because Lorenzo is the son of a small-time mobster, or that is what is insinuated. He controls the town. Lia can only count on the support of her family and her lawyer, no one else. You can feel how oppressive that is.
The second half of the film revolves around the trial, but not just in court. Sessions are spread over a longer period in which the family travels back and forth between their hometown and the big city. It is increasingly unsafe at home. Their land is destroyed, their home is attacked. The spectator cannot do anything other than be an ally of Lía. The growing danger and the growing loss become a shared experience.
The only time the plot falls short is when Lia’s lawyer urges her to do what she has been embarrassingly avoiding all along: tell her version of events in court. It would have been stronger if Lia had made that decision out of her own conviction and she had wanted to denounce injustice out of intrinsic motivation.
The story never moves too fast, never stops. The girl from the future It’s not nail-biting, but it effortlessly holds your attention from start to finish thanks to the intriguing story, good acting, and beautiful visuals. The electronic music in the background by an Italian with a Japanese name is a strange choice, but an effective one. This loose adaptation of the true story of the first woman to challenge marriage restoration has been made into a beautiful movie.