User Reviews

"Atte di Dolore" was translated into French -it's a co-production ,starring French actors such as Bruno Cremer - as "acte d'amour " ,which the ending is ,in a very cruel way.One can prefer the Italian title though,because the French one is a capitulation, leaving absolutely no hope to the viewer,in spite of the word "love" .It can be justified because ,though fictionalized ,the screenplay is based on a true story.

Sometimes considered "over the top" by some critics , "atto di dolore" is a ruthless descent into hell of a young man Sandro ,addicted to heroin;Claudia Cardinale portrays the mater dolorosa who gets out of her way to save her doomed son;she loses everything :her lover leaves her, her daughter takes refuge in a friend's place to be able to study.Everything the distraught mom does backfires against her: the more she gives money to him,the more he demands ;more and more agressive he robs her and beats her.

Not for squeamish!

I'm glad I decided to watch this on Rai Storia tonight, despite the low IMDb score. Not bad at all, and even a masterpiece of sorts with its harsh but correct attitude.

The sequencing is great and there is no time lost. We are presented with a flowing story with everything from action, hard-hitting dialogue, some on-the-nose social commentary and many emotional scenes.

This is so 1990! Looking at the first few minutes you can tell it's past the 80s yet not into 1991. Not just the audio visual character, but also the subject matter is extremely in tune with that exact year. I remember movies from other countries covering that issue, so, maybe that was to that particular year what Covid, vaccines and climate change are to 2023?

I'm not educated enough on the matter, but the way it is covered suggests the heroine addiction had grown worldwide in the 80s to make it into such ordinary Italian households in a sneaky way.

The mention of AIDS coming in so late in the movie was a surprise. That was because the kid in question was at first a solo user who had his own syringes? I'd expect such a film to cover that angle more profoundly as well, given it was the other evil that accompanied this one socially.

The early scene in which the medic at the hospital told them to take the kid "elsewhere" or he'd die... And the mother's boyfriend somehow taking him to a doctor for a shot... So it was illegal officially family was advised on how to save the moment, at least off the books. Maybe it was common knowledge but was news to me.

The scenes are strong and the acting is solid. I don't get the low score. May it be that the dubbing and other technical features make it unbearable for younger audiences?

Or is it because nowadays even drug addicts are seen as a "vulnerable, marginalized, oppressed community" that should somehow be excused?

Well, this film is living proof that such attitude has no chance of solving these problems.