This is the first movie I've seen this year(2007) and it's not a bad start at all. While it did come out 2 years ago, I'm only getting to see it now not only because it's a foreign film but also for the fact that I'm so backed up on films I've said I would try and catch up on.'Don't Tell' was an Oscar nominee for best foreign film back in 2005 and rightfully so. From the theme music and the DVD's menu screen, to the opening credits and the whole hauntingly peering feeling surrounding it, I had a feeling it was going to be good. I have to admit I was a little lost in the beginning, as I hadn't bothered to read the synopsis for fear of ruining the suspense. Anyhow, it didn't take too long to figure it out.As the film begins, we meet a beautiful young woman named Sabina who is visiting a mausoleum and apparently is having a hard time dealing with the loss of her parents. After she finishes up with the legal proceedings concerning her parents bodies, she goes to work. There we find out that she is a voice-over artist. During one of her dubbing duties, she is visibly traumatised when she has to voice-over a rape victim but at this point in the film it's to early to speculate as to why a professional such as herself would feel that way. Later on, we meet her boyfriend Daniele, an actor who seeming loves Sabina more than his own art. Things go by normally from here on, until one night after having sex with Daniele, Sabina has a very disturbing dream involving her childhood. Troubled very much by this, she visits her blind childhood best-friend the next day and tactfully tries to extract some visions of her past. But her best-friend paints a beautiful picture for Sabina. Times goes by and the dream refuses to leave Sabina, so much so that it begins to hurt her relationship with Daniele. That Christmas, she decides to fly to America to visit her brother and his family and it is this holiday that unleashes all the skeletons in the cupboard and puts all the demons to rest.The director's attention to detail is perhaps the most stunningly admirable aspect of the film. Everything you see or might take for granted is actually very vital to the story, and in case you miss some things while watching, don't worry they will fall into place and make sense by the end of the film. There was a shot in the beginning where Sabina was running through a cemetery and the camera kept noting all the defaced and mutilated gravestones, statues etc. etc. Even when the camera finally rests on a seemingly normal monument from the front, it's later revealed to damaged from behind. Sabina's perhaps sums it up best when she said "families are all about seeming...you never know what's true or not" and that's just the way the film was shot as well. You never know what's really real and what's not. The thing I took away from watching this is that no matter how low you may think you've reached in your life, no matter how damaged you are, there's always a chance to reinvent yourself and silence the demons from the past.

This film was an amateur job at best. I would have expected more than a melo-dramatic soap opera to tell the story of such a sensitive subject. I've seen more talented first time directors and writers do a whole hell of a lot better then these seasoned soap workers. A pity certain scenes were interesting and somewhat well done had no leg to stand on, hence they seemed comical in their brief moments and then certain scenes in their flailing over stated tragedy were completely worthy of only a snicker and a wave of embarrassment for the filmmakers to write and direct such a cliché and stereotypical portrayal of...well...Everything AND Everyone! SHAME on the Oscar committee for nominating THIS film for Best Foreign Film...what kind of Judges does that committee have??? Ex Soap stars? We need to maintain SOME kind of level of excellence to recognize great ability to truly create work worthy of Oscar nominations next to the likes of our greatest filmmakers and entertainment talent of intelligence, skill and creativity, not amateur soap "workers". Please. Movie of the week maybe....but an Oscar Nomination? Because it was made in Italy. WAKE UP!! HELLO!!

OK, let me talk some sense about this movie:1. This is Italian Drama at its worst 2. There are three different movies crammed into one 3. The narrative cues are typical of soap operasThere, I said it. And I know what I'm talking about since I'm from Brazil and we know all about soap operas. This is not a great film, period. Put that in your head, Foreign Film judges.It might have been a good episode (if heavily edited) of prime time TV, but it will NEVER be Oscar material.First, let me digress about the script. As many of you will see, it's a mess from start to finish. The main topic (abuse / incest) has to share time with a struggling TV director and a some thoughts on lesbianism AND blindness at the same time. Can you guys see the SCOPE of all that? How are we supposed to follow all these very intense plot lines and still care for the main theme?Well, the answer is simple. We can't. Soon the audience gets divided over plot lines and the main one never recovers. Since this is a scripting problem - mainly from the adaptation from a book, I'm sure - this would already be a major con for a serious drama.Then we go to acting. The husband gives us the "theater speech" but all we see on screen is an impersonation of a caring husband. He never goes above TV level - just like what they are supposedly mocking. As for the main actress, she is good but her character soon loses steam and she has to rely on pre-fabricated "moments" to emote on. After a while, it gets plain boring.We never get a feel for the lesbian/blind girl either. She is no more than a mental construct, a "moral in a person" that manages to shine in a couple moments and nothing more. A wasted character, I might say.The older woman. She appears from nowhere, turns lesbian, says she's straight then proceeds to kiss the blind girl and disappears again.I have to mention the music. All the cues come straight from a horror picture, making the horrific abuse almost funny. Less strings would be nice. Actually, less music in general would help the movie a lot.Finally, the directing works really well sometimes. The movie has moments of greatness, of true emotion. It's unfortunate that it is so irregular - whole sequences are destroyed by badly selected shots and artificial mis-en-scene. Again, it gets funny when it shouldn't and many important plot points fall flat. This seems to be the work of a novice director, someone still getting to know the tools of the trade.It could be so much better. 30 minutes less, it would be a competent drama. This is watchable for the most part - 70 minutes or so, I'd say - but gets irritating and over-extended close to the third act. As always, great intentions don't make a movie great.I'll end this review saying that I'm stupefied over the Oscar nomination. I still can't put my mind around it and will have nightmares tonight, I bet.

Cristina Comencini is the daughter of legendary Italian director Luigi Comencini, one of the makers of the Italian comedy from the Fifties to the Seventies. Cristina is an established director as well -she's also an appreciated writer. Her films are very different from the features of her father -either they're more dramatical or contain a less hilarious comedy."La bestia nel cuore" means "The beast in the heart" in English. The film is based on a book written by Cristina Comencini herself.Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a dubbing actress, wants to see again her brother Daniele (Luigi Lo Cascio) -who works in America as a Universitiy teacher. They both share a terrible experience: when they were child they were abused by their father.This horrible experience is like a beast in the heart because it's impossible to recover from. They search for truth and try to elaborate it. In this film there are other characters with painful situations. Emilia (Stefania Rocca) is a blind woman friend of Sabina, she's lesbian; Maria (Angela Finocchiaro) is a 50 year old woman who faces the fact of having been left by her husband for a very very young girl. These people too have a beast in their heart.The film is dramatical, of course, but the atmosphere is not heavy at all -there are also moments in which we can laugh. So the film doesn't go in only one direction.There are a lot of reflection hints, it's not an easy film -because we all have bigger or smaller beasts in ourselves...-. But you don't go out of the cinema depressed and sad, not at all. There's a message of hope.The film his a high quality movie, with excellent actors. Giovanna Mezzogiorno won a price at the last Venice Film Festival: she deserved it because she acts very well. She's dramatical but in a believable way -she doesn't put too much emphasis and pathos in the role. A real actress.