1944, Vermiglio, a remote mountain village. The arrival of Pietro, a deserter, into the family of the local teacher, and his love for the teacher’s eldest daughter, will change the course of everyone’s life.

Italy’s entrant for ‘Best International Feature Film’ at this year’s Oscars (albeit not nominated) is ‘Vermiglio’, a drama that explores the lives of a small community who live in a remote mountain village amidst the Italian Alps. Set towards the end of World War II, the simple existence of the locals is disrupted when a deserter called Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico) arrives in the village and ultimately falls in love with Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the daughter of the village schoolteacher and elder of the community, Cesare (Tommaso Ragno).

‘Vermiglio’ is a deliberately slow paced movie that trusts in the audience to immerse themselves in the lives of the villagers, understanding why they choose to live such a secluded existence, and showing the significant impact the choices of an outsider can make on all their futures. The cinematography is stunning at capturing the remote beauty of the mountain landscape, and that isolation plays into how the characters react to Pietro’s arrival, seeing him as both a chance at change and a threat to their traditional way of life. How this dynamic will develop will have profound consequences on many of the characters, and the story is played out well by an impressively naturalistic cast.

Pietro represents the presence of war in an environment largely untouched by the impacts of it, in turn emphasising the community’s isolation while also drawing them closer to events occurring outside their remote village. It’s particularly profound in his impact not just on Lucia, but on Cesare, who is the movie’s moral centre and I thought Tommaso Ragno’s performance was the standout. That said, sometimes that slow pacing did keep me at a distance and I wasn’t as engrossed throughout as I had hoped to be, ultimately finding some periods of the film to drag a little. If you liked ‘The Eight Mountains’, you’ll find much to like in ‘Vermiglio‘, but like that film, the slow approach to storytelling may impact on your investment.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Maura Delpero

Starring: Giuseppe De Domenico, Tommaso Ragno, Martina Scrinzi, Roberta Rovelli, Carlotta Gamba, Orietta Notari and Sara Serraiocco

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt28618488/