It was the Son ( E stato il figlio) (奪命的富貴)

My 10th HKIFF film this year is another film in a class of its own. It's É stato il figlio (It was the son) by director Daniele Ciprì, who co-wrote the film script with Massimo Gaudioso and Miriam Rizzo, based upon a novel by Roberto Alaimo about the events leading to the imprisonment of the only son in a working class family in Palermo whose livelihood depends on getting and selling scrap metal from shipyards and auto junk yard.

As the film opens, we see the head of the family Nicola Ciraulo (Toni Servillo) proudly leading his retinue consisting of his father, his son Loredana Ciraulo (Giselda Volodi)  and niece to the gates of a shipyardf. Once it's open, they march in got into a boat and then quickly scramble on a ship being demolished to remove useful parts for sale. He's very angry that they couldn't go to a good part of the junk ship where they can find more copper because their boat was slower than that of the another group of metal strippers. Instead of stripping metal as quickly as possible, his father appears to be fascinated by a globe spent the time doting on it, bursting  into a song. He was reproaching his son for not being as smart as his cousin, who when scolded by him, retorted and said he'd stop working for Toni..Then we see his daughter Serenella (Alessia Zammitti), joining in throwing discarded aerosol cans into a fire awaiting the popping sound as they exploded. Near to her, stood a little boy protected by a guard, asking to play with her but he was ignored. Then we see two nefarious looking guys observing and then aiming. The next we know, Serenela fell on the ground, dead. It was a Mafia revenge attack. The Ciraulos were heart broken. Then by accident, he heard that the Mafia had a foundation to assist victims of their crime. He approached a lawyer whose ways appear as crooked as his deformed face. Learning after a court hearing that they would come into huge sum of money, they started to spend and spend until they are deeply into debt so that they had to borrow from a loan shark, once and then again. At the third time, when he heard the conditions, he stormed out. Fortunately, the long awaited sum arrived. They were advised not to trust the banks and placed all the money on the dining table and held a family conference as to what to do with the money. The son wanted a new TV, his wife wanted a new kitchen and he wanted a Mercedes Benz. His mother was in agreement and they got the Benz and drove around the proudest man in Palermo. Then one night, his son stole his car for a joy ride to a cinema house with his cousin and got it scratched. When he discovered that in the morning, he gave his son a good thrashing and wanted to kill him. His cousin was called. He argued with Toni. When he used words considered too abusive, his cousin took out a gun and shot him. Then his mother made an ingenious proposal: his cousin would look after the family whilst Loreanda would say that it was him who killed his dad.

That was the tale Loreanda told anyone who cared to listen at a local utility payment centre. The film was a grotesque tale of iItalian socio-economical reality of the Italy of the 1970s, told with humor, a bit exaggerated but not too much so that the double tragedy in the Ciraulo family tragedy was presented as a species of comedy. What made it credible was the acting and the music and the slightly comical presentation of by its hero played by Toni Servillo. It's rhythm too was also like that of its music by Carlo Crevelli.  The film got the Marcello Mastrioni prize at the at the Venice film festival and got Cipri another award for its cinematography for the composition, colors of its images and at moments for its air of surrealism which helps to lift the allegorical film from any suggestion that it's intended as a "realistic" film.