Eugenio

It was not the first time Luigi Comencini had tackled childhood (and it would not be the last):"Incompreso" was very moving and unforgettable;"Pinocchio" was very different from Disney's cartoon;later in the eighties he would transfer to the screen,with great talent,De Amicis's "Cuore",then redo "Marcellino pan y vino".Comencini is THE poet of childhood ,whose reputation is much greater in France than in his native Italy.Here all the movies I mention above plus "lo Scopone Scientifico" and his "Casanova" are considered art house cinema .

Eugenio is a normal sensitive child.He's got a rather rich family but he is a burden for them.The child passes from hand to hand: the parents who both want to start over with another partner,the grandparents who are leaving for Australia ,the others who are chic mean bourgeois ... That a friend of the family leaves the boy alone in the country is actually what the family unconsciously wants to do!

While they are searching for the boy,all the flashbacks -Comencini displays less skill than he would do in "Cuore" however;besides his cast is weaker- show how selfish adults can become.In direct contrast to that ,the director introduces a working class family where the boy finds some comfort thanks to his pal,some kind of Italian Gavroche.

That the family should be more interested in the new-born calf than in an unfortunate child who slowly moves away as nobody notices it is not surprising and is still relevant in 2007 .As a teacher,I 've sometimes met this kind of child.They are well fed, wear smart clothes,own tons of toys ,so they should not be miserable.

Luigi Comencini died this year;it was a major loss for the Italian cinema.