Beyond the Border film review

Farwest.IT

May 12, 2024

Today we’ll talk about "Oltre il confine" (Beyond the Border), a new film by Emiliano Ferrera that premiered at the UCI Cinemas hall in Rome on May 10th. The film consists of three episodes: “Redemption”, “Black Town” and “Rendezvous in White Buffalo”. The first two parts have already been published in previous years, but they are reassembled and recolored here, while the third, Appointment in White Buffalo, is brand new.

There is obviously a overall theme that runs through these works, independent but similar, and that is the centrality of the female figure. We will understand it better by analyzing the plots, obviously without spoilers...

“Redemption” is a sad ballad, from top to bottom by the melancholic notes of House in the Meadow: “Away, Away Come away with me Where the grass grows wild, where the winds blow free"... Intoning these words of desperate freedom is Susan (played by the beautiful and sorrowful Nora Luis) widowed by the Marshall of Redemption, "the poorest and most squalid town in Lincoln County". The city is held in check by a handful of shady cutthroats. As if that wasn't enough, two bounty hunters roam Redemption. One is an ambiguous "tenderfoot" from the East, masterfully played by Valerio Rota Vega, the other is the director Ferrera himself, "a demon disguised as an angel", who closely resembles the nameless stranger protagonist of "A Fistful of Dollars". Who are they looking for? Will Susan be able to fulfill her destiny, where the grass grows wild and the wind blows free?

“With Black Town”, the second episode, we move to the end of the Civil War. Lee has surrendered to Grant, but in Black Town there is a handful of Confederate soldiers who have no intention of laying down their arms. They are commanded by a witch (played by the magnetic Yassmin Pucci). It is said that at night she sends her henchmen to kidnap children to sacrifice them to the devil and drink their blood. In this episode of the saga, Emiliano Ferrera plays "Nobody", a stranger intent on saving the beautiful Sarah (Luce Cardinale, descendant of the legendary Claudia Cardinale) from the clutches of the witch. Will he be able to do so without losing his soul?

In the third episode, “Rendezvous in White Buffalo”, we make a further leap in time and arrive at 1890. We are at the end of the epic of the Frontier, and the protagonist, the county sheriff Bat Mallory (Stefano Jacurti), is also at the end of his career: he is only two days away from retirement. A robbery by the gang of ferocious Jim Levy (played by a mustachioed Emiliano Ferrera) forces him to get on his saddle and gallop once again. Alongside him, there is "only" one woman, Libby Thompson (played by Giulia Morgani), the only one willing to put her life on the line for a very meagre salary. The old sheriff is skeptical, but Libby will surprise him during a twilight manhunt, which has a bit of Sam Peckinpah's poetry and a bit of Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" flavor.

"Beyond the Border" is a title that winks at Cormac McCarthy. The boundary that is explored in this anthology film is twofold, physical and metaphysical at the same time. From a geographical point of view, the landscape dominates the shots almost to the point of becoming a character in itself. The majesty of Campo Imperatore and the parched lands of Camposecco, which were already the backdrops of the glorious tradition of the Italian spaghetti western, come to life through Ferrera's camera. Beyond geography, however, there is another border that is crossed, and it is the one that separates "the other half of the sky".

The three stories, in fact, revolve around the female world, which is rather unusual in a western world dominated, both historically and cinematically, by male and patriarchal figures. In a world where "you're either a farmer or a whore", the heroines told by Emiliano Ferrera have the courage to take different paths, and to face the dramatic consequences. What they have in common is a particular taste for the bitter and melancholic twist that characterizes the endings, and which enhances the epic nature of the stories.

In developing this "feminine" approach, Ferrera's film has been in good company in recent years. I'll cite my two favorite examples: the beautiful Prime series "The English" with Emily Blunt, or the 2013 film “Sweetwater” with January Jones. Here in Italy a novel has just been published that seems very promising from this point of view, Le Spietate by Claudia Cravens, for the types of NN.

The film, produced by Old Type, boasts a cast of great skill and professionalism. It is worth mentioning the intense interpretation of Giulia Morgani in the third episode, who in addition to being an actress is also a writer and becomes part of the acting pantheon of Emiliano Ferrera's films, where the timeless Yassmin Pucci reigns, already the protagonist of Gold and Lead, together with Nora Luis and Luce Cardinale. As far as the male part is concerned, the two interpretations of Stefano Jacurti cannot leave indifferent, who more than an actor is now an institution of the contemporary Italian western, capable of ranging from cinema to theater, without forgetting an intense essay activity.

Without forgetting, finally, Emiliano Ferrera himself, who alternates between the director's chair and the role of dry and sharp characters, also thanks to a strong physical resemblance to the legendary Clint Eastwood.

The opening soundtrack and that of Redemption are signed by Alessandro Giordano, while on Black Town and Sfida a White Buffalo we see Klaus Veri at work: strong notes, full of epic, dust and blood, which perfectly accompany the stories told.

In a word: 100 minutes of great independent cinema await you with Beyond the Border, made of passion and dedication in the wake of a great tradition. Three new stories, but with the flavor of the great classics.

Enjoy!