If the World Dies film review

The western genre is back on the screen with a second film co-directed by Ferrera and Jacurti.

 
Diretta News IT
June 11, 2014
By Francesco Lomuscio
 
The western genre is back on the screen with a second western co-directed by Ferrera and Jacurti
 
Stefano Jacurti says, "I wrote this story because I have been struck by the news service that speaks of 'absent institutions' in a country where the people have lost confidence in the state and 'marginalized' of various types, struggling to win a place in society. I transferred these issues as universal as heard in a very congenial place for me like the Wild West, where marginalization and injustice sooner or later find their own place in the even more remote wilderness."

Previously in 2007 the author of the snow-western “White Hell” an independent film co-directed by Emiliano Ferrera and Stephen Jacurti, the duo are back together in the genre dear to John Ford and Sergio Leone through the short feature "If the World Dies", which, presented at the Nuovo Cinema Aquila in Rome, opens at a modern ranch and then we are transported back in time by means of the lines of an old book from the unlined Antonella Salvucci seen in "Sentimental Education of Eugenie" Aurelio Grimaldi and "Midway - Between life and death" by John Real.

So, effectively accompanied by a soundtrack co-scored by Klaus True and Fabrizio Sartini, we find Jacurti in the role of outlaw Black Burt, "the poet" because he usually recites verses of death before killing someone, he has an appointment with Butcher Joe played by Simone Pieroni, aka "the butcher", in order to plan their next robbery in a ghost town somewhere between the dust of the desert and the ghosts of the past.

And it is his journey to Mexico that takes him into a city full of life, inhabited by drunks and prostitutes such as blind Sheila, which gives body and soul by Emanuela Ponzano, denigrated and put into a corner; as the condition of women is mixed with the emptiness of the consciences of men and the terrible memories of massacred people.

Moreover, enters the aforementioned Ferrera in the role of Bill Carlson, a character that has us recall Clint Eastwood because of his physical resemblance, is a drama of human existence in its many facets that is staged in about forty minutes of film time, filmed between Abruzzo and Spain and dedicated to Louis Jacurti, the late father of Stephen.

Forty minutes definitely handled and, of course is peppered with triggers ready to fire and scattered corpses, yes an homage of cinema to the authors of "A Fistful of Dollars" and "Stagecoach", but with vague influences also by films of the Coen brothers ('"True Grit", a little' "The Big Lebowski)

              Antonella Salvucci, Stefano Jacurti, Emanuela Ponzano

Forty minutes, with the participation of the dance school country "Western Spirit" and a certain irony at the end that leaves a reference to the Trinity films, is an excellent plus identified by the photography by Alberto Marchiori and considerable care of to the sound effects as key ingredients that enhance the final leg of a commendable performance put up with so much passion and few resources; because, as explained by Ferrera: "Of course, sometimes we have to work in awkward situations and stressful, as often happens in the independent film, but we have been able to react better with the right spirit and the strength of those who believe that the western is intended never to die. "