Based on the crisp novel by Niccolo Ammaniti, I'm Not Scared is set in the late 1970s in the rural hinterland of poverty-stricken Italy. It's here that 10-year-old Michele (the quite remarkable Giuseppe Cristiano) enjoys a life of youthful exuberance, getting up to all sorts of mischief with his younger sister and his sometimes vicious friends. It's on one of these excursions that the little group discovers a long derelict farm house. After they finish their mean-spirited game of dare and his friends go home, Michele has to return to collect his sister's glasses. Whilst rummaging, he discovers an ancient, concealed trap door. Underneath it, in a man-made pit, is a young boy, about the same age as Michele, who is living in his own waste and starved of food and sunlight. Repelled by his discovery, Michelle inexplicably keeps it to himself, but slowly forms a bond with the imprisoned boy. When his usually absent father, Pino (Abbrescia) returns, Michele instinctively knows that something is up, especially since his relationship with his wife appears to be so fraught with tension...
Ammaniti's book was an international bestseller due to its deeply insightful recollections of childhood compounded in the shattering of innocence masked around a thrillingly horrific premise. Salvatores' camera captures the idyllic days of summer quite beautifully - the vast cornfields and the glare of the sun are visually stunning, the colours of his palette extraordinary - but fails to articulate the sheer horror and magnititude of the situation. Although he's helped in this quest with a superb performance from his youthful and untrained leading man, the tone of the film is uneven, lacking suspense and the sheer emotional wallop such a remarkable premise demands.
