Flight of the Innocent MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -3

Set in Italy, this gruesome tale concerns a young boy, Vito (Manuel Colao), who gets caught in his family's crossfire with a rival clan. Vito hides as his family is brutally murdered by a clan who has also kidnapped Simone Rienzi, the child of a rich Italian couple. Eventually he finds his way to the Rienzi mansion, where he finds the kidnapped boy's parents ready to pay a handsome ransom for their already dead child. Vito seems almost invincible as he travels all over Italy, escaping endless chases by the clan. Minimal dialogue and English subtitles make the story a bit hard to follow at times, although the cinematography shows the beauty of the Italian countryside. Flight of the Innocent is a two-hour film filled with violence in search of substance.

The boy's daydreams seem to be the film's attempt to add depth to the story, but their violence and vagueness do not accomplish this goal. Murder victims include a baby and young children, with graphic closeups of dead bodies and slow motion gunshot wounds. Instead of including more dialogue in the subtitles to clarify the story, the film makers translate the obscenities and crudities. Implied sexual intercourse occurs once between an unmarried couple, and a dance scene focuses on the suggestive movements of a woman's body. The movie's rather concealed theme seems to be that real men are never afraid, especially not of being shot to death. Once again, Hollywood attempts to dupe the public into thinking films like this are art, which it most emphatically is not.

Preview Reviewer: Krista Kay Bontrager
Distributor: MGM/UA Dist., 11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025