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Baarìa

Baarìa

Movie · 2009 · 3 people

Baarìa is a 2009 French-Italian co-production written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Blending historical drama with comedy, it unfolds over roughly 160 minutes. Its title is the Sicilian pronunciation of Bagheria, the director's hometown in Sicily, and the full title is Baarìa – La porta del vento. The film opened the 66th Venice Film Festival on September 2, 2009, and reached German cinemas in 2010.

The story follows several generations of one family living in the same town through the twentieth century, using them to trace the social and political changes Italy went through. It was shot largely in the Sicilian dialect. The cast includes Francesco Scianna, Margareth Madè, Monica Bellucci, Raoul Bova, Laura Chiatti, Ángela Molina and Lina Sastri, alongside Giorgio Faletti, Nicole Grimaudo, Gaetano Aronica, Aldo Baglio and the duo Ficarra & Picone.

Produced by Medusa Film, Baarìa was selected as Italy's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards but was not nominated. It did receive a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards.

DirectorGiuseppe Tornatore
Production companyMedusa Film

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Cast

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Nicole Grimaudo Nicole Grimaudo Actor · 46 years old Giorgio Faletti Giorgio Faletti Writer · died at 63 Monica Bellucci Monica Bellucci Actor · 62 years old

Titles sharing this cast

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

In Baarìa, Tornatore follows one town and one family across the twentieth century, trying to fit Italy's social transformation into a single sweeping fresco. The ambition deserves credit: balancing historical drama and comedy in one narrative is no small task, and shooting largely in the Sicilian dialect gives the film a genuine local texture. Still, at roughly 160 minutes it could have become a much tighter piece with tougher decisions in the editing room. Spreading such a large cast over such a long span makes it hard to give every character the depth they deserve, and the episodic structure keeps diluting the dramatic tension. Even so, there is a visual generosity and a sincere love of cinema here that make its choice as the Venice opening film easy to understand.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Perhaps the real protagonist of Baarìa is the town itself. Through the generations of one family living in the same place, the film traces the social and political changes of twentieth-century Italy, and big history becomes visible only as it filters into the everyday life of a family and a town. That approach is valuable because it lifts history out of textbook memorisation and sets it inside ordinary lives. Shooting largely in the Sicilian dialect also reads as a deliberate choice to put regional identity at the centre. The question of how a country's transformation looks from the provinces will feel familiar to Turkish viewers too. Viewers who don't know Italy's political past may lose the thread at times, though; a little background on the periods involved enriches the experience considerably.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Films about a family living out its life in the same town over generations bring our own old family dramas to mind: loyalty to the same soil, traditions holding out against changing times, children growing up and moving on. Baarìa mixes drama and comedy to capture that warmth, and its broad cast, from Monica Bellucci to Ángela Molina, is a pleasure to watch. In a film named after the director's hometown, it is only natural that affection for the place seeps into every frame. A story of this length does ask for a patient viewer, though; you need to set aside a whole evening. A big-hearted, faithful film.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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