Manuela Martelli Movies

Italian director Salvatore Mereu (Three-Step Dance) steps behind the camera for a sophomore occasion - and unveils distinct influence by such predecessors as Ermanno Olmi and Francesco Rosi - with Sonetàula, a cinematic eclogue that unfolds on the landscape of Sardinia. Neophyte Francesco Falchetto stars as Zuanne, a Sardinian shepherd boy from the (apocryphal) village of Orgidas. As the picture opens in 1938, Zuanne is 13, growing up under the tutelage of father Egidio (Lazar Ristovski) and grandfather Cicerone (Serafino Spiggia), both of whom he adores. The father-son closeness is short-lived, however, for in time Egidio suffers incarceration for a murder he didn't commit and then gets shuttled off to the Abyssinian war, where he is promptly killed - leaving the orphaned Zuanne to come of age under the warm and kindly Cicerone. Eventually, a tragic and complex series of events involving a stolen sheep forces Zuanne to go on the lam as a refugee - and the boy's desire for a young woman in his village, Maddalena (Manuela Martelli) becomes both his only tie to the hamlet of his youth and the one element that pulls him back to Orgidas. As all of this occurs, the long-cherished agrarian lifestyle in Italy - with the peasants' strong ties to the landscape - firmly and abruptly ends for the first time in centuries. The narrative of Mereu's picture spans 15 years, wrapping in 1953. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Political unrest helps spawn and destroy a friendship between two schoolboys in this drama. In Chile in 1973, as the leadership of socialist president Salvador Allende was coming under fire from the nation's military leaders and the leaders of several powerful Western nations (including the United States), many in the country were inspired to address the issues of the vast gulf between Chile's rich and poor. Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran), one of the headmasters of an exclusive private school, decides to confront this matter by giving a handful of poor children a full scholarship. Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) is one of the new students, and while he and his fellows are picked on by the school's bullies, Pedro is a brave kid who stands his ground, and he's soon befriended by Gonzalo Infante (Matías Quer), whose rich parents live in Santiago's wealthy suburbs. Gonzalo's family is standing on shaky ground these days; his mother (Aline Küppenheim) is having an affair, and his father (Francisco Reyes) finds himself at odds with her increasingly right-wing political views. Gonzalo begins spending more time with Pedro and his family; he particularly likes Uncle Willi (Alejandro Trejo), who cheerfully sells flags to Chileans on both sides of the political fence, and develops a crush on Silvana (Manuela Martelli), Pedro's older cousin. But the political and economic differences that are dividing the country find their way into the school, leading to a rift between the two friends. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi