Angela Reviews

Angela is a well-made mafia drama, rich in atmosphere and filled with strong, naturalistic performances, but the story itself isn't particularly exciting. Told predominantly from a woman's point-of-view (that of the title character, a mob boss' wife played by Donatella Finocchiaro), it plays out a little bit too slowly and without much incident, more like a reverie than the slice-of-mafia-life it seems to promise. Writer/director Roberta Torre shot her film on the streets of Palermo, filling only the lead roles with professional actors, so it does have an authentically gritty atmosphere. Finocchiaro has charisma to burn, and delivers an excellent, low-key performance as the conflicted wife. The actress and the locations are the film's strongest selling points, and Torre makes the most of both. Andrea Di Stefano (Before Night Falls) is also very effective as Angela's seducer, Masino. It's an effective exercise in gender reversal, particularly in this tough milieu, to have Masino be such an empty-headed, pretty femme fatale type, and the object of the camera's fetishistic gaze. In fact, in every aspect but its fairly tepid and predictable plot, Angela offers an interesting, slightly skewed take on the gangland tale.