Dispara!

The melodramatic tale of a daredevil circus rider and sharp-shooter Anna (Francesca Neri), who is brutally raped by three young thugs when they break into her caravan at night after she has repelled their advances. Humiliated and with serious internal injuries from the attack, Anna sets out next day to hunt them down. The scene in which, shotgun in hand, she corners her tormentors was greeted with enthusiastic applause at the premier at the Venice Film Festival. But from then on it is all downhill for Anna, who becomes a desperate fugitive. The ending of this revenger's tragedy is predictably bleak. Neri's reputation till now has rested not least on generous exposure of her undoubtedly beautiful body - and, though far from tittilating, the rape scene is more explicit than necessary. It is, however, Neri's powerful and nuanced portrayal of Anna that ultmately lifts the story above the merely sensational.

The melodramatic tale of a daredevil circus rider and sharp-shooter Anna (Francesca Neri), who is brutally raped by three young thugs when they break into her caravan at night after she has repelled their advances. Humiliated and with serious internal injuries from the attack, Anna sets out next day to hunt them down. The scene in which, shotgun in hand, she corners her tormentors was greeted with enthusiastic applause at the premier at the Venice Film Festival. But from then on it is all downhill for Anna, who becomes a desperate fugitive. The ending of this revenger's tragedy is predictably bleak. Neri's reputation till now has rested not least on generous exposure of her undoubtedly beautiful body - and, though far from tittilating, the rape scene is more explicit than necessary. It is, however, Neri's powerful and nuanced portrayal of Anna that ultmately lifts the story above the merely sensational.

First published: International Herald Tribune

© Roderick Conway Morris 1975-2023