This teenage love story has all the elements of the genre - mawkish charm, awkward behaviour, youthful anger and rebellion, idealism and humour. But against these usual forces is marshalled all the dark, wordless horror of the Cosa Nostra and its war against the individual conscience.
The result is a movie that is unexpectedly nuanced and moving though much of the territory it covers is familiar from other treatments. The genius of the piece is to have us always see through the teenagers' eyes, and indeed through their dreams. Whether live can prevail is what the movie asks; that we even suspect it might, against such overwhelming and cruel odds, is the message.
The result is a movie that is unexpectedly nuanced and moving though much of the territory it covers is familiar from other treatments. The genius of the piece is to have us always see through the teenagers' eyes, and indeed through their dreams. Whether live can prevail is what the movie asks; that we even suspect it might, against such overwhelming and cruel odds, is the message.