The Pack

(IL BRANCO) ((ITALIAN))

A Cecchi Gori Group release (in Italy) of a Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica, Sorpasso Film production. Produced by Mario and Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Marco Risi, Maurizio Tedesco. Directed by Risi. Screenplay, Andrea Carraro , based on his novel.

Raniero ... Giampiero Lisarelli
Pallesecche ... Ricky Memphis
Ciccio ... Salvatore Spada
Sylvia ... Tamara Simunovic
Marion ... Angelika Krautzberger
Brunello ... Roberto Caprari
Ottorino ... Luca Zingaretti
Sola ... Giorgio Tirabassi
Sorquinto ... Natale Tulli
Esterina ... Sasha Altea

Based on two different real-life episodes of violent gang rape in the Italian provinces, Marco Risi's "The Pack" makes the fatal mistake of trying to tell a brutal tale from the p.o.v. of one of the rapists. The result is off-key and highly alienating, particularly for female viewers.

Risi has tackled delicate social themes in all his films, from the Palermo ghetto in "Forever Mery" to the Ustica tragedy in "The Invisible Wall."His intention here is clearly noble: to expose the underlying inhumanity of the average Giovanni.

Pic opens with a replay from a famous call-in radio show, in which northern Italians bitterly insult southerners and vice versa. The point is that people identify "otherness" as alien and enemy. This is the cultural level of the jobless teenage boys who hang out in the pool hall of a small town outside Rome.

Raniero (newcomer Giampiero Lisarelli) is the best-looking and most innocent of the lot; "Dry Balls" (Ricky Memphis) is the meanest and most sadistic. But when word spreads that some pals have got hold of two German hitchhikers in an isolated shack in the woods, everyone hops on their mopeds to take part in the fun.

By the time the boys get there, Sylvia (Tamara Simunovic) has already been raped repeatedly. Her reactions are oddly muted, and she seems more concerned about the fate of her friend, Marion (Angelika Krautzberger), who is a virgin.

Though the level of psychological violence is high, none of the rapes are shown on-screen, and nudity is kept to a minimum. As the unfortunate tourists, Simunovic and Krautzberger under-act and under-react, portraying the girls as helpless victims who don't connect emotionally with the viewer.

Of the boys, Memphis (who normally plays ghetto heroes) leaves the strongest impression of mindless evil. Lisarelli's Raniero inspires mostly contempt when he flashes back to his churchgoing days as a child, or tearfully frets about how the rapes are going to affect his career goals.

On his fifth feature, Risi has a serviceable technique well in hand. Franco Piersanti's music and Massimo Pau's foggy lighting heighten the tale's anguish without going for subtlety.

Camera (color), Massimo Pau; editor, Franco Fraticelli; music, Franco Piersanti; art direction, Claudio Cinini; costume design, Metella Raboni; sound (Dolby), Tommaso Quattrini. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 9, 1994. Running time: 90 MIN.

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