Set high in the Aspromonte Mountains of Calabria, where few Italians – let alone tourists – ever go, Black Souls (Anime Nere in Italian) is a rock solid crime drama.
Unlike recent examples of the genre, such as Gomorra and Il Divo, Black Souls doesn't over elaborate. The plot is fairly straightforward and it's all about character.
At first it seems disjointed and meandering, but the net soon closes in – on both the viewer and the characters.
It's the story of a mountain family in the far south, who are shepherds but – like many in that area – are also part of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia who are reckoned to be even more dangerous than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.
For years, the family has pottered along, tensions bubbling below the surface, maintaining the everyday façade, with the three sons each playing their part. Luciano, the eldest, is perhaps the odd one out, tending to his goats and wanting a peaceful life. Luigi and Rocco are in the drug trafficking business up to their necks, although Rocco looks after the family accounts and keeps the 'legitimate' face alive, while Luigi is the street level hitman.
Until now, when Luciano's son Leo – a hot headed teen who is bored with working on his father's farm and wants to join the real family business – does something reckless that sparks a war with the rival family on the mountain.
Many of the cast are non-professional, which adds a layer of authenticity, although Luigi is played by Marco Leonardi, (just about) recognisable to fans of Cinema Paradiso as the young Toto.
Slightly unusually for films of this kind, the women are given decent screen time, and if their characters seem resigned, defeatist and naively devout, both to God and their men, well, unfortunately in this context they usually are.
Aspromonte means 'Sour Mountain' – and it is. Houses are protected by steel bars on the windows and linked together by underground walkways so the inhabitants need never go outside. Kidnap victims are held in secret hideaways deep in the forests. Legitimate residents have a long running fury with the government for ignoring the region's problems.
Black Souls implies all this and more, even showing how 'Ndrangheta families liaise with the local Carabinieri [police] about their plans – a bitterly ironic example of how the law works with gangsters just to keep the 'peace'.
Hard as the landscape it is set in, Black Souls is the best Italian crime film in years.