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Raffella
has got everything she wants - a rich husband, exotic holidays
and people to do her bidding. On holiday aboard a private
yacht Raffella demands that the deck hand Gennarino takes
her to a nearby island to go swimming. When the motor on the
boat dies, the two wind up stuck on a deserted island and
now having to rely on Gennarino for food and shelter, the
relationship shifts. With her fortune now counting for nothing,
Rafaella has to cope with the loss of power and being forced
to subjugate to Gennarino's will...
Swept
Away (or to give it its full Italian title Travolti
da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto) is
a comedy-drama from 1974 that examines class, capitalism and
sexual relationships. Mariangela
Melato stars as the arrogant, white, middle class Raffaella
Pavone Lanzetti and Giancarlo Giannini is the servile, dark
skinned, working class Gennarino Carunchio.
When
the movie opens, Raffaella is part of a group of rich middle
class holiday makers that have hired a luxury yacht and its
crew to take them on a private cruise. Raffaella spends her
time giving Gennarino, the deck hand, hell - treating him
like the lowest of the low. So, when the two of them are marooned
on a desert island, and he is the only one who has the skills
to keep them alive, he takes great pleasure in reversing the
roles.
It
was a shame that Gennarino was such a total animal on the
island - punching Rafaella repeatedly in the face and attempting
to rape her. Personally, I felt that if he had acting brutally,
without punching or forcing himself on her sexually, then
the viewer would have accepted the blossoming love that grows
out of this relationship.
Instead
the message that is clearly offered here is that women will
bow down to men, and worship the ground on which they walk,
if you they treat them like sh*t! Not very politically correct.
So, it came as something of a surprise to discover that the
director, Lina
Wertmüller, was a woman.
Brushing
that un-PC element aside, Swept Away is a very engaging
movie. And, as it was not born out of Hollywood, it has a
very realistic and unmushy conclusion.
The
film was remade with disastrous consequences in 2002 with
Madonna attempting to take
the place of Melato. The results were a bit of a joke really.
If you want to see how it should be done, then the original
1974 version is the one you should get your hands on.
The
disc itself offers no extras, but that's not really a problem
as the retail price is only £13. But I did find a slight
problem with the subtitles. Occasionally they flash on the
screen too quickly, meaning you have to rewind your DVD and
watch a scene again. And, in one instance, the subtitle for
a long translation was flashed up on screen so quickly that
I could only read a couple of words before it disappeared.
This resulted in me having to rewind and pause that sequence
to be able to read the subtitles.
But
these are minor quibbles. This is an excellent movie that
is full of surprises.
Ray
Thomspon
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