Vermiglio (dir. Maura Delpero)
By: Adam Freed
Set in the looming shadow of Italy’s Dolomites, Vermiglio is a methodically paced Italian language film about a large family in a quaint town attempting survival in the midst of the second world war. Although the threat of war seems to loom large over Maura Delpero’s film, the conflict feels a distant threat, one that cannot cross to the peaceful side of the Alps. Although it is not a war film per se, Vermiglio demonstrates the conflict's impact as many of the young men are noticeably absent from the small village in which the film takes place. Delicately with each passing season of 1944, the film presents a rash of ever evolving familial hardships. Starting in a gorgeously captured alpine winter, a new pregnancy threatens to short change the Graziadei family members their daily bread. Compounding challenges, insufficiency and heartbreak stress familiar bonds and allegiances as the seasons pass on.
Vermiglio is a textured and delicately detailed story even to a fault. Maura Delpero takes her time in presenting the minute intricacies of the period specific film, including even those which may come across as mundane. The laws of daily European life occupy a great deal of the family's emotional energy, but risks alienating audiences unaccustomed to the social mores of the time. Delpero has beautifully framed the difficulty of many tasks that modern audiences will take for granted. Through its demonstrated hardship, Vermiglio introduces a multitude of themes that when captured collectively speak to an unimaginably pressurized time in human history, set ironically in an unquestionably beautiful place.
Despite the film’s lack of narrative propulsion, one of the joys of the film is witnessing the intimate character dynamics established between the Graziadei siblings, ranging in ages from four to eighteen. The family’s humble alpine home is the setting where some truly meaningful moments occur. The act of brothers and sisters sharing beds as they attempt to drift off to sleep proves memorable. Just as unforgettable are the bedtime stories the older children recite to their younger siblings. There is no question that despite the hardship of the time period, there was a simplicity that Vermiglio captures that is a delightful reminder that all of that which is needed is contained within a family.
Target Score 6/10 Maura Delpero’s period piece Italian language drama Vermiglio may be too methodically paced for broad audiences, but certainly captures the essence of a pivotal time in a beautiful location.
Vermiglio is included in Movie Archer’s coverage of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival.