I'm Not Scared

"I’m not scared" is the sentence whispered repeatedly by a terrified 10-year old after he mistakenly discovers a boy his age held captive in a subterranean shack. This bone-chilling, yet surprisingly touching Italian film by Gabriele Salvatores is situated in a seemingly safe Sicilian village. Grassy fields sweep the countryside, and childhood is supposedly a guaranteed right. However, this picturesque environment is suddenly disrupted with the heart-wrenching discovery and the corruption and greed that slowly is revealed. Instead of relying on Hollywood’s typical cheap scare tactics, this psychological thriller will make viewers repeat the three-word title in attempts to deny the horrors in the film, and then open their hearts to the film’s theme of the importance of simple human contact. This emotionally complex film is based on a best-selling novel by Niccolo Ammanti and won acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival in 2003.