Yara, directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, tells the real story of murdered teenager Yara Gambirasio (played by Chiara Bono) and the effort of prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri (played by Isabella Ragonese) in catching and convicting the killer.
Yara is enjoyable enough but slightly superficial. The mood is dark and depressing for its entire duration, and the pace is inconsistent, having a clogged flow in the last act.
The movie begins with an aeromodelling plane flying around and finding Yara’s body three months after her disappearance. This scene only takes two and a half minutes, but it felt like ten.
The scene was interminable and also unnecessary. Why show the discovery of the body to get back to Yara’s disappearance three months before? The only thing it does is reveal that she’s dead too early.
Anyway, we get back to the day Yara goes missing. We accompany the family’s affliction, the police and prosecutor’s investigation, and the public commotion around the case.
Later, we see the discovery of the body again, but now quicker, followed by the rest of the investigation.
Throughout all of these phases, there’s not only a kidnap/ murder investigation but also a media circus, misogyny against the prosecutor, and hate against immigrants.
Italy, the country that let the brown and black immigrants drown at their coast, also blamed the ones inside the country for all their ills. Like the Moroccan, Mohamed Fikri, suspected of the crime based on racism.
Fikri is played by Aiman Machhour, who did a decent job with his small role, like most of the remaining cast.
The acting was okay, no one stood above the others, but I couldn’t feel a lot of emotion in the performances. The film was too emotionally sterile for such a theme.
The only performance I disliked was Roberto Zibetti as Yara’s father. He’s not bad in general, but he makes some bizarre faces without apparent reason. I know he’s suffering, but it looks like he’s shitting.
As for the characters, there are some nice ones, like the cops played by Thomas Trabacchi and Alessio Boni, and the supporting Edoardo (played by Miro Landoni). But the only one who actually carries the movie is Prosecutor Ruggeri.
I don’t dislike any character, but there’s one I need to address. Letizia’s daughter (played by Crystal Deglaudi) should not exist in this film.
I know the objective was to humanize the Letizia, but the only thing it accomplished was to show bad editing. Their scenes don’t have any connection whatsoever with those before or after.
Lastly, the cinematography was quite decent. It’s not outstanding, but it gives us some gorgeous shots here and there.
Yara had the potential to be way better, and it accomplished to be at least decent. I loved the several layers depicting Italian society, but the film has way too many flaws. I’ll give Yara 7 Moons!
That’s it for now. Once again, I encourage you to like, subscribe, comment, and share it with friends, acquaintances, and enemies. Some suggested videos will appear on the screen in a bit, you might give those ones some attention to, if you like.
Thanks for watching see you in the next video.
Sources:
- Italy could have saved 200 drowning migrants: UN committee: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/27/un-experts-fault-italy-in-drownings-of-over-200-migrants
- Leaked Calls reavealing Italian forces let Syrian refugees drown:
- https://www.newsweek.com/italy-ignoring-distress-calls-let-more-250-syrian-refugees-die- sea- 606545
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italian-navy-lets-refugees-drown- migrants-crisis-asylum-seekers-mediterranean-sea-a7724156.html
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/09/italian-forces-ignored-a- sinking-ship-full-of-syrian-refugees-and-let-more-than-250-drown-says-leaked-audio/
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15655276/
- Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yara_2021
Dos Ratos 