The Orange Thief (Lightyear Entertainment)

“I’m convinced that some of the best moments we pass in this life… are in the dreams of others.”

The Orange Thief (2007) is a taut little character piece floated by Sicilian music, philosophical ponderings and the underlying implied taste of luscious Italian oranges. It is a foreign movie with a lot of voice over, so unless you speak Italian get ready to read. No multitasking while watching this movie, you’ve got to keep your eyes to the screen. (emily)

Just as in the Sicilian music that this movie puts on display, there are only a few very simple elements to this movie. There is one main character, the orange thief (Jean Marc Berger), and his concern is trained solely on getting a piece of land, which makes him somewhat of a simple character. There are two main sets: “the land,” where orange trees grow, and the jail cell, where our protagonist goes when he gets caught. There are a few other characters that come into the orange thief’s life, but they pretty much remain simple characters that have only one motivation in the movie.

The film has a thread of magical realism strung through it. The magic all resides deep within the rich soil of the Sicilian farm land. The first few frames are dedicated to showing the orange thief as a boy planting all sorts of things into the land: cigarettes, tomatoes, chicken feet, etc. Although the orange thief has never had a piece of land, he has been a true cultivator of its bounty for all of his life.

Although he is a thief by trade, it is easy to sympathize with him, because his motivation to steal is so pure. His admiration for the glory and beauty of his homeland is apparent throughout. Although he is a likeable character, I did not become fully enthralled by him until he gains a guitar and begins to sing. He sings some of the native songs of Sicily, with such pride and gusto, that it is almost tear inducing.

After the thief is arrested for stealing, he is placed into a cell with the likeable villain of the film, El Turrido, aka “Turrido, the smooth blade,” who is a notorious roughneck in prison for murdering with a knife. The thief makes a deal with Turrido: a piece of land in exchange for a recording of Turrido’s pre-prison girlfriend singing.

So the motivation of the movie becomes to draw the song out of this broken hearted woman whose life consists of pining for her jailed lover and cooking meals she wishes she could serve to him. The path is complex, as the woman won’t just sing on command. So the movie becomes a savory mixture of native songs of Sicily and shots of Sicilian land.

The musical numbers aren’t “numbers” at all. They are merely the actors singing the songs as Berger plays on the guitar. The music takes over the entire movie, even without choreography. Each of the characters, including the peripheral ones, gets swept up into the passion of the music.

The film is simple and low budget. It is overacted at times, and somewhat inconsistent with the ambition of its concepts, but watch-able, all the same. It has the aesthetic of early Robert Rodruiguez films, like El Mariachi (1993). Specifically the jail cell scenes, which show a grainy texture and simple peach lighting. Although Mexico and Italy are completely different cultures, the machismo show downs of the male characters in both films are thrilling in the same way. If you enjoy one, you will enjoy the other.

The sheer love of homeland that the movie represents is admirable and, at times, excruciatingly beautiful. Although it is not a perfect movie, it is a delectable foreign treat, and achieves the status of joyfully imaginative cinema. The end of the movie is slathered in philosophical musing presented through Berger’s voice over. They are just the right amount of heavy-handedness, and are abstract enough that they become the thought provoking end to a juicy tale of lust for land. B+

Posted in DVD Reviews, Reviews