Fortapàsc Directed By Marco Risi

Article Review: Fortapàsc directed by Marco Risi

In “Fortapàsc,” directed by Marco Risi, one of the scenes that stood out to me is the one that gives the movie its title. Fortapàsc is an Italian term used to describe continues fighting between groups where there are no laws that can adequately control the situation (or do they have laws that are just ignored?). It is often employed to describe the violence between the cowboys and Native Americans. In Fortapàsc, we see this word being manifested in the relationship between the Mafia and citizens. What the camera shows the audience is directly contrasted with what the mayor is saying. The mayor claims his work is a symbol of honesty, however, the crowd starts booing him because the citizens
The camera pans from the mayor to the people and we see them literally standing in the dirt and mud, surrounded by abandoned, crumbling buildings. As the speech progresses, the citizens once again grow disgruntled and boo. The camera captures this juxtaposition between what the disillusioned mayor is saying, versus the reality of the situation. The mayor claims that he has created progress for this town, yet, what the camera shows proves otherwise. Then the camera pans back to the mayor and he states, “our honesty must not be muddied” and the camera pans to the sky, where there is a sudden burst of loud thunder and rain, creating mud from the dirty ground. This is also symbolic because the mayor’s hands were already sullied, and he seems unable to escape the muddied environment created by his corruption. In addition to this being symbolic of the mud, one could interpret this scene as God was so irritated with him, that the thunder represents God’s anger and the rain, an attempt to cleanse the mayor’s sins (or cleanse the environment?). Even visually, it seems the thunder and rain start to talk back to the mayor, in an
We see a little girl in a pink dress skipping down the street, smiling with her ponytail swaying in the air. She represents purity and innocence, and gives the audience a break from the violent killings in the film. However, little do we know that it is the calm before the storm. As this little girl infatuates the audience, out of nowhere we see the mafia emerge, screaming with guns firing. The camera pans back to the little girl who tries to seek cover in a house and is crying and banging on a door, then the camera shifts back to the shootout and members being graphically killed by gunshots. Then the camera shows the little girl bleeding outside the front door, which symbolizes how young children are exposed to massive amounts of violence and crime in their everyday lives. The director is trying to convey the message that the Mafia is not only responsible for numerous adult casualties, but in addition, the loss of many young, innocent