La justa distancia

The Right Distance sees Giovanni, a teenager, played by Giovanni Capovilla, with journalistic ambitions who lives in a small village in the Veneto and has as pygmalion Bencivegna, a well-known local reporter, played by Fabrizio Bentivoglio, who will teach the young man how to become a good reporter.

The first case the boy will deal with will be the murder of a young and beautiful woman named Mara ( Valentina Lodovini ) who had come to live temporarily in the country and who had a flirtation with Hassan (Ahmed Hefiane), a Tunisian mechanic integrated into the community. The latter will be hastily accused of killing the young woman but Giovanni, not at all persuaded by this sentence, will continue to investigate on his behalf until the truth is discovered.

The late Carlo Mazzacurati, a director of intelligent works that have swept up prizes such as The Bull, The Saint's Tongue and The Chair of Happiness among others, draws heavily on the subject of Robert Mulligan's timeless masterpiece The Dark Beyond The Hedge starring Gregory Peck to create, together with screenwriters Doriana Leondeff, Marco Pettenello and Claudio Piersanti, a really well done gothic thriller from the Po Valley.

The protagonist Valentina Lodovini, nominated for the David di Donatello as best leading actress of that year, is perfect in playing a young, non-conformist teacher who will upset the balance of a small town where many men will try with her. Among these standouts is the always impeccable Giuseppe Battiston in the role of Amos, a man rich and slimy at the same time who will try in every way to seduce Mara.

The film is embellished by the Tin Hat soundtrack and by the evocative photography of the master Luca Bigazzi which increases the pathos of a story that will keep the viewer glued to the armchair until the last sequence.

The film denounces a certain dullness on the part of some ignorant and indifferent locals who think exclusively of defending their own backyard and comfortably try to look for a foreign scapegoat, clearly demonstrating that the much-maligned racism is still inherent in them. Carlo Mazzacurati wants to communicate to the viewer that sometimes to discover the truth it takes a certain detachment from the story.