Gianni Amelio's Lamerica

Lamerica is a film that seems to alternate between sad and darkly silly. Two men, Fiore and Gino, are attempting to get funding from the Italian government to supposedly run an Albanian shoe manufacturer. The real plan, however, is to run with the money. This is not the first time for either of the men, but it seems that Fiore is more experienced than Gino, since Fiore mentions working with Gino's father.

The film takes place in 1991 in Albania, as the government is overthrown and an exodus takes place from Albania to Italy. After Fiore and Gino pick a "straw man," as chairman, who they believe to be an Albanian named Spiro Tozai, Gino is left to take care of him and instruct him on his "job." Spiro turns out to be an Italian, however, named Michele Talarico. He was imprisoned in Albania during the war and is now delusional, since he believes himself to still be twenty years old and sometimes actually believes he is Spiro the Albanian.

There is a parallel between Michele/Spiro's dual identities as Italian and Albanian and Gino's ever-blurring identity as a well-off Italian. As the film progresses, Gino lives and travels with poor Albanians, many of whom are trying to get to Italy. Gino himself becomes more poor as time passes, and he loses his job, his car, some belongings, and his arrogance on the way.

Lamerica covers a broad swath of ideas, history, politics, and universal life lessons, but it does so very cleanly. The characters are well-developed even as the plight of the Albanians is made all too clear.