Off for 3 weeks from 7th December to India; hope the mess this site is in is cleared up by the time ...
Off for 3 weeks from 7th December to India; hope the mess this site is in is cleared up by the time I get back & that the number of cheats & churners will have decreased. Season's greetings to you all. xx
Member since:10.10.2002
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INTRO/CAST/CREDITS
Bella Mafia is a Lynda La Plante novel and screenplay. It was originally made as a TV mini-series but was so popular it was released as a film/DVD. I've seen it a couple of times and, personally, enjoyed it on both occasions.
Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Nastassja Kinski, Jennifer Tilly, James Marsden and Illeana Douglas, Gina Philips, Tony Lo Bianco and Dennis Farina), Bella Mafia was released in 1997 in the USA and 1998 in the UK. It's classed as a drama and is not suitable for viewers under 15 (due to some scenes of violence) in the UK and 18 in the USA. It was produced by Jack Clements and directed by David Greene. The full film runs for over well over 3 hours which might be a bit too long for some viewers, although from what I could gather the DVD version runs for about 2 hours.
PLOT TEASER
Sicilian Don Luciano (Farina) lives with his wife Graziella (Redgrave) in Palermo, Italy. One of their sons, Michael, has an affair with Sophia (Kinski), getting her pregnant. When Luciano refuses to get involved in drug trafficking, an angry American mob boss Carolla (Lo Bianco) has Michael killed.
Sophia secretly gives birth to Luka, and then marries another Luciano brother and has his twins. Later, Carolla unwittingly adopts the teenage and somewhat disturbed Luka (Marsden), who is unaware that he is a Luciano. Carolla's vengeance continues over a period of time, passing on his hatred to Luka, who kills off all of the males in the Luciano family from the Don down to Sophia's young twins.
The Luciano women rise from their grief to become a force to be reckoned with when Luka enters their lives pretending to be someone else.
Do Bella Mafia (the Luciano women) find out who caused them so much heartache? How do they wreak revenge on the men responsible for the death of their loved ones? Does Sophia discover her secret child Luka is the cause of her pain?
MY THOUGHTS
This was quite an entertaining film for me. It was quite sad in parts, too much death in general, but the way the grieving women come together in their sorrow and unite to get revenge on their tormentors made me feel inspired (I guess that's the feminist in me)! The ending was tragic yet justified and followed quite a natural path. Put it this way, it's the ending I would have penned (erm had I been an award winning writer like Ms La Plante)!
I found the leads played their parts particularly well. Vanessa Redgrave was duly graceful in parts and suitably distraught when required. Nastassja Kinski was beautiful and her determination in her character rightfully earns her a place as the head of Bella Mafia for her courage. Jennifer Tilly is someone I generally find very amusing (mostly due to her squeaky voice) and in this film I found her character to be quite funny too. She injected some much needed humour to an otherwise quite serious film. James Marsden was absolutely evil and so believable it was scary - I'd only ever seen him in Ally McBeal and the difference in characters was fiercely evident!
A COUPLE OF FACTS ABOUT BELLA MAFIA
Vanessa Redgrave was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actress.
The film was also nominated for Best Casting for a TV miniseries by Casting Society of America.
WHERE TO GET IT
You can buy Bella Mafia on DVD from play.com for £9.99 or from deltamusic.co.uk for £12.99 or rent it from screenselect.co.uk or wait for it to be shown on TV again. You could also check here on Ciao to find a cheaper DVD!
SO?
Overall I think fans of mob/gangster movies will enjoy Bella Mafia.
To summarise the film - it's about 5 beautiful women who unite to avenge the deaths of their husbands and sons.
If you compare it to films like Godfather, The Last Don and Scarface, you might not rate it very highly; as it's more about the women of the mafia.
The story is far-fetched in parts but I didn't watch it for a dose of reality!
A solid 7 out of 10 from me...
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