Wild Blood (2008)

I love this movie so much

How sad is this?

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A number of reviews here seem a little harsh even though a number of faults, particularly in the direction, can hardly be glossed over. I agree that the flashbacks add confusion to not so much the events but to the dramatic atmosphere of individual scenes. When one feels a certain empathy with a character is being elicited, the viewer is suddenly hurtled into another time and place.Hardly a 'spoiler', we know that the major characters portrayed more than adequately by Zingaretti and Bellucci, are executed by the partisans. But at the end of the film, I found myself asking the obvious: "What were their crimes that deserved the ultimate punishment"? There seems to have been an awareness of motives and actions of the ill-fated couple that is not adequately revealed in the film's plot. Nevertheless, this story led me to further explore historical facts relating to the waves of vengeance by anti-Mussolini forces, once the Nazis departed. The production values are commendable and despite some finding fault with the performances of Bellucci and Zingaretti, surely Alessio Boni as Golfiero deserves our praise.

This was a well structured, well crafted film with excellent acting throughout even if it was, at times, somewhat overacted with Monica Belluci the main culprit. The spirit of this film is, I think, summed up by a wonderful scene where the Osvaldo and Luisa are hiding in the secret room of a country residence, all Ann Frank, with Osvaldo going through a sickening bout of withdrawal from morphine and cocaine. So bad is he, in fact, that as a peasant girl watches, Luisa reaches in to Osvaldo's pants and masturbates him to sleep before wiping her hand on the blanket and embracing the child, encouraging her to pursue love and iterating that it is a truly wonderful thing, even if the scene she's just witnessed is horrid. The girl goes on to get raped and murdered. You wouldn't get this in Hollywood. Though provoking, challenging, interesting, mobile.

For people who were already moviegoers during WW2, this movie is a gem, because it is impossible to forget the extraordinary performances given by Osvaldo Valenti during his brief career. I well remember one of his deliveries in LA CENA DELLE BEFFE (1), perhaps his best movie. It is understandable that Tullio Giordana nourished his project for more than 25 years, and it is impossible not to be touched by Luigi Zingaretti's interpretation of Richard III.("A kingdom for a horse!") It is a long movie (2 1/2 hours) and at least the first half is excellent, because of the description of the atmosphere during the unfortunate war fought by Mussolini "to please his master". It is a pity that Monica Bellucci doesn't meet the expectations, especially when one remembers the high number of "divas" from Cinecittà who entertained us in the Forties. With American movies gone, and French movies scarce, the "white telephones" from the Italian comedies were a good replacement, and the "whale movies" like CORONA DI FERRO (Blasetti)were very impressive.Unfortunately,after the first half, SANGUE PAZZO doesn't keep its pace. As stressed up by another comment , almost all the climaxes are cut short by flashbacks, to the point of confusion, if not frustration. However, the beginning and the end - a couple of youngsters taking possession of one of the devilish couple's movies -is an excellent idea. Marco Tullio Giordana is better with TV series than historic movies, but I am hardly waiting for his next production.Harry Carasso, Paris, France (1) "In the water, there was a small red fish who was staring, staring, like a tear of blood...").

Maybe if the director went a little easy on the flashbacks and allowed actors to grow with the scene the results would have been different. For me, Zingaretti was way over the top, needing Bellucci's passiveness to balance the scenes. I don't see any other actress playing Luisa Ferida. In all, the film lacks historic references, making it feel empty. When the story asks for continuity Giordana gives us a flashback, when the scene is at the point of climax he brings it down with a harsh cut. The story of Luisa Ferida and Osvaldo Valenti is so rich and yet, the film focuses more on Luisa's two loves instead on focusing on the drama of living hard in a divided country.