“Fireworks” is set in a small Sicilian town in 1982. The film has a rabbit hunting scene at its beginning and near its end and at its end the last hunt is left to your imagination.
Teenager Gianni (Samuele Segreto) is a shy fellow working as a mechanic for his stepfather. Gianni has had some past incident that put him in a reformatory and as his mother says “ruined a boy’s life”. He is taunted and harassed as a “fairy” by the young crowd hanging out at the local bar.
Nino (Gabriele Pizzurro) is a teenager working with his father setting up and operating firework shows. His sexuality is initially not determined but a mutual attraction slowly develops between Nino and Gianni. As life goes in small rural towns Nino and Gianni are “discovered” and the fireworks begin. Nino’s father goes berserk with anger as does Gianni’s. Gianni is badly beaten in front of the local bar and the assailants escape in a car driven by Nino’s uncle.
All was fine between Nino’s family and Gianni until it was discovered he was involved with their son Nino then a total about face.
“Fireworks” is more a story of discovering homosexual love than it is about coming out and in small town Sicily in 1982 homosexuality is dangerous. Very community minded people recoil at the very notion of homosexuality.
Beautiful cinematography and clever soundtrack. No message overtly preached. In fact giving the film a tag as an LGBTQ film perhaps misses the point and misrepresents it. Yes there are two young gay lovers but embedded in that is the stories (or lack of) of the other characters all interesting in their own right.
“Fireworks” is a masterful Italian epic set in a summer. It should rank with “Cinema Paradiso” as a great Italian epic film. Pegging this film as an LGBTQ film simply does no justice to its magnificence.
You can view the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=MnVgPPPQIOw
Directed by Giuseppe Fiorello. Written by Giuseppe Fiorello, Andrea Cedrola and Carlo Salsa.
Available on 18January2024 on DVD and VOD.
The film is based on a true story and arguably jump started the Italian Gay Rights movement in 1981.
RKS 2024 Film Rating: 96/100.
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