This rousing, incredibly bleak slice of southern Italian life (directed by 34-year-old Italian-American Jonas Carpignano and executive-produced by Martin Scorsese) could hardly be more topical. Italy’s new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is making headlines, thanks to his brutal stance on migrants. Many working-class Italians love Salvini. The Ciambra will help you understand why.
Pio (Pio Amato) is a Romani teen whose family like to sit around and slag off Africans. Pio is actually friends with an immigrant, Ayiva (Koudous Seihon) from Burkina Faso, who the family semi-tolerates. Nothing is black and white in this universe; everything is a vibrant muddle.
Amato, a non-professional actor, is fantastic and the camera, rightly, clings to his face whenever possible. Surrounded by his real-life relatives (playing versions of themselves) he is utterly convincing as a boy trying to find his feet. When he snuggles up to his mum, it’s shocking. He looks like a kid who’s never been cuddled.
If The Ciambra has a fault it’s that it contains too many shots of noble, wild-eyed horses (they should be banned from indie movies, they are a gorgeous cliché). But that’s forgivable when so much else feels new (a calm funeral is especially jolting).
Elsewhere, music plays a big part. Techno chart hits (the sort that snobs would call disposable) are used to capture the infectious energy of Pio’s tribe. Carpignano doesn’t judge his characters. He just lays bare what makes them tick.
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