Cavalli (Michele Rho)

Reviewed by Rosanna Garrison. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Cavalli is directed by Michele Rho and it is based on a story by Pietro Grossi.Cavalli is an archetypal story of two brothers going through their rites of passage to manhood.  Cavalli takes place in the late 19th century, in a small Tuscan village in the Appenines mountains. The story opens with scenes from the idyllic childhood of Alessandro (Vinivio Marchioni)  and Pietro (Michele Alhaique) frolicking in the fields, swimming in a mountain pool, and celebrating the innocence of youth. Their dear mother  (played by Asia Argento)  dies, and leaves her sons a legacy of two magnificent horses, Baio and Sauro.

The two boys find a horse trainer that will break the horses. Without money and unable to pay the trainer, the boys must live on his ranch and labor in exchange for the trainer’s work with the horses. After sometime, the boys return home on horseback. The movie jumps forward from childhood to early adulthood. Alessandro yearns to see the big city and leaves their home in the small village. Pietro stays and with the help of the trainer becomes Pietro becomes a successful horse breeder and marries Veronica.

In the urban setting, Alessandro confronts the corruption and moral depravation of city life, including becoming a regular at the brothel and the saloon. When the horse stable owner, Alessandro’s employer, cheats Alessandro out of his wages, Alessandro takes a saddle as compensation for his work. The boss attacks Alessandro and attempts to recover the saddle. Alessandro fights back, hitting the boss across the head with a plank of wood. The fight scenes are gritty and tough. Without CGI enhancements, the scenes are true to life, bare-knuckled brawls. Months or years later, the boss gets revenge. In a brutal and barbaric scene, Alessandro is hunted down on horseback and beaten beyond recognition by the boss and his henchmen. The climax of the film is reached when the boss commits his final devastating act of revenge upon Alessandro.

Lush orchestral music accompanies the sweeping, panoramic shots of the Tuscan countryside. The boys, newly released from their labor in exchange for breaking their horses, ride off into the golden Tuscan sunsets, accented by lens flares. Cavalli has many of the elements of a classic American western and reminded me of John Steinbeck’s, The Red Pony.

In essence, Cavalli is a story of the bonds of brotherhood, friendship, and family. Director Rho explains, “when I read for the first time the short story ‘Cavalli’ I felt a pleasant feeling of déjà vu, as if this story already existed in my head, as if it had happened to me personally. Horses has the flavor of those stories that you were told when you were small, stories that stay with you for years waiting to be told once more. This film is about something ancestral and animal: it is the story of a brotherly love, strong, violent, visceral and indispensable. It speaks of a love for who is there and for who no longer exists. It is the story of a friendship which will never end. It is a story of growth. Of walking together sharing the same road, and finally taking one’s own separate ways”.

Although the movie takes place in the 19th century Italy, the issues, themes and resolution of youth meeting corruption are universal and timeless. Cavalli is an entertaining film that western enthusiasts will enjoy. The cinematography exquisitely captures the beauty of the Italian countryside and the classical music score will transport you to another time and place.