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Emanuele Crialese's Respiro is alive, sensual, and transcendent. Set in Lampedusa, an island southwest of Sicily, it is a film about mothers and sons, accepting differences, and the power of love to bring renewal and reconciliation. Gorgeously filmed by cinematographer Fabio Zamarion, Respiro captivates us with its bright Mediterranean sunlight and the expressive faces of the people, tanned and strikingly beautiful. Winner of the 2002 Cannes Critics Week award, the film is based on a local legend about a mother whose behavior was found to be offensive by the community and whose subsequent disappearance was the catalyst that brought the people together. Crialese's film has the feeling of myth and legend but also the overtones of the great Italian realist dramas of the 50s and 60s.

As gangs of unsupervised pre-teens carry out intermittent warfare among the desolate beaches and rocky landscapes, everyday life centers on fishing. While the husbands do the fishing, wives work in the fish processing plant and the boys help out their fathers and catch fish to use as trade for a chance to win an electric train set. Grazia (Valeria Golino) is the wife of macho but loving fisherman, Pietro (Vincenzo Amato) and mother of three: 13-year old Pasquale (Francesco Casisa), younger brother Filippo (Filippo Pucillo), and older sister Marinella (Veronica D'Agostino). Golina is radiant as the headstrong young mother and Casisa's performance as Pasquale completely captures the budding sexual awareness of a pre-teen. The film reflects the warmth of the Italian family and the closeness that Italian sons feel for their mothers but also depicts the old-fashioned attitudes of the tight-knit community, especially the subjugation of women.

In a revealing scene, Pasquale's brother, the adorable but mouthy Filippo and his friends follow his older sister Marinella to a private meeting place where she is seeking privacy with a shy young policeman, Pier Luigi (Elio Germano). Affronted by their seeming public display of affection, Filippo, less than half their size, confronts the two lovers and threatens to beat them up unless his sister goes home immediately. Unfortunately, everything is not right on the island. Grazia's behavior is increasingly defined by erratic mood swings. She flings dishes across the room, swims naked with her sons, and releases a herd of dogs from captivity, but it is not clear if she is ill or just rebellious and the film walks a tightrope between suggesting madness or the eccentricities of a free spirit.

It is soon apparent that the community has their own thoughts about her actions and she is seen as a threat to the social order. When Grazia's antics threaten to reach the breaking point, Pietro's family decides to send her to Milan to receive psychiatric treatment. Pasquale, however, always understanding and protective of his mother, hides her in one of the many caves along the rocky shore, bringing her food and reporting news of the search for her whereabouts. The ending can be interpreted in many different ways but I was touched by its haunting beauty. Is it to be taken literally, a dream of Pasquale's perhaps, or a fairy tale constructed from legend? I'm not sure but in any case, Respiro's combination of magic realism, natural beauty, and humanistic message will have you pricing the tickets for a trip to Lampedusa.

A most affecting film and a fine cinematic achievement. It has been noted by others that there is barely a sympathetic character, little story and a largely bleak landscape. All the more wonder then that Crialese manages to so engage us with what is a truly scary film. We have seen westerns, even films of gangland where men are men and women do what they are told, but here children too are involved. This film must be hard to take for an Italian audience because, although here the events take place on a tiny island way off Sicily, the basic traits of Italian society are laid bare. All the men boss the women and children about but to see the young boys telling their mothers and aunts what to do is difficult territory for a 'civilised' audience. Of course, these traits are also still evident in all societies and it is all the more disturbing for these to be highlighted in this manner because we find it convenient to ignore them. I must also say that the music was impressive and the ending majestic. A must see film.

This movie is storytelling at it's finest. This movie is set around a family - in particular a rather unstable and highly emotional mother (Grazia) - and their village on a small Sicilian island. The story centres around her actions and the reactions of the other islanders. An evocative story, brilliantly written, visualised and superbly acted by all of the cast. In my opinion this is one of the best movies made since Cinema Paradiso, with a bit of a heavier theme. I cannot but give this movie 10 out of 10! Choose a calm, relaxed mood to watch this with. Put aside your popcorn, open your eyes and your senses and absorb. On the big screen if you can!

This film, while fully realistic, captures the archetypal world of a small fishing island off Sicily. A youthful mother feels the oppression of patriarchal power and resents her husband's dominance. She turns to her young son in a quasi-incestuous relationship, more about romance and adolescent freedom than erotic neurosis, though she is very disturbed by her limited life. The son gains his early manhood when he has to take care of his mother, who avoids being sent to a distant mental hospital by hiding out in a local cave. The society has to recover its feminine side and does so through an undersea rite of celebration of the Madonna as the Great Mother. Dogs become "scapegoats" and get sacrificed as the price of family and social re-cohesion. This is a very wise and moving film full of visual beauty that does not overplay its anthropological core. We seem to experience communal life lived before gods and mythic energies departed.

I bought this film back in 2002 when I was first learning Italian, it's absolutely fabulous. Francesco Casisa and Filippo Pucillo are superb as Pasquale and Filippo and of course Valeria Golino as usual gives a perfect performance in her role of Grazia.

The DVD that I bought has American subtitles which are desperately awful in places but manage to convey more or less what's being said.

The soundtrack is very unusual, I love the original incidental music and its recurring theme which is repeated throughout the film.

This is also where I first heard La Bambola by Patti Bravo.

Some complain about the ending but I love it; watch the film to see what you think....