Product Details

• Actors: Manuel Colao, Federico Pacifici, Salvatore Borghese, Lucio Zagaria, Giusi Cataldo
• Directors: Carlo Carlei
• Writers: Carlo Carlei, Gualtiero Rosella
• Producers: Bruno Ricci, Domenico Procacci, Franco Cristaldi, Gabriella Carosio, Jon Turtle
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: March 2, 1999
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792840577
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,866 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

An unusual mix of lyrical filmmaking in golden hues and gauzy images with shocking, brutal violence, Flight of the Innocent gives a kid's-eye view of a war among crime families in Southern Italy. Resourceful schoolboy Vito (Manuel Colao), the youngest son in a mob family of kidnappers, is the sole survivor of a massacre that lays waste to his entire rural household. He flees to Rome to find his cousin, while a vicious scar-faced killer (Federico Pacifici) is on his trail, haunted by the face of his family's latest victim, a boy no older than he. Though clever and patient, Vito remains a boy whose innocence is threatened by the corruption around him, his world shattered by murder, fear, and the guilt over his family's crimes, which he attempts to atone for in a personal act of penitence. It's a startlingly beautiful film filled with poetic images and a sense of wonder constantly shattered by violence, a beautiful visual irony that tends to overwhelm the more difficult conflicts of the narrative and may ultimately splinter the film's potential audience. The lyrical delicacy of the film hardly fits the he-man attitude of most action cinema, and the explosive, brutal violence will likely turn away much of its art-house audience. --Sean Axmaker

From The New Yorker

Carlo Carlei's film-his first-tells the story of Vito (Manuel Colao), a ten-year-old Calabrian boy on the run from the thugs who massacred his family. The movie plays like a comic-book version of "The Night of the Hunter." The director bombards the audience with flashy visual effects and seems to be aiming for a poetic, dreamlike tone; but he's no poet, and the sort of dream this picture most closely resembles is the one in which you run and run and never get anywhere at all. On the strength of this movie, Carlei has been signed to a Hollywood contract: anyone whose sensibility so effortlessly combines cheesiness and self-importance has to be considered a natural for big-studio filmmaking. Also with Jacques Perrin and Francesca Neri. In Italian. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Complete Spectrum of Visual Splendor and Squalor, August 3, 2004

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flight of the Innocent (DVD)

Hard to believe that this film, the first movie created by Italian director Carlo Carlei, has been around since 1992! FLIGHT OF THE INNOCENT may be too simplistic for some viewers, but if you can accept the fact that the world through a child's eyes can retain a sense of beauty despite all the tragedy that fate can impart, then this film will leave you breathless. Succinctly told, this is an Italian story of vendetta - familial murdering that goes beyond the brutality of war. The introduction suggests that in 1966 the 'art of kidnapping for money' was rampant in Italy (take a look at South America and the Middle East today!). Vito (Manuel Colao)is a beautiful, dreamy little boy who witnesses the slaughter of his entire family, happens on an evil scar faced kidnapper of a wealthy Roman family's son, sees the boy is dead, is discovered by the killer, and the chase begins. Vito runs, takes trains, rides on the backs of trucks - anything he can do to escape the scar faced villain who is always on his heels. How he brings the truth to the Roman family of the kidnapped son is singularly beautiful in the portrait of guilt by blood and not by deed - and the converse of that concept. The photography is absolutely breathtaking with views of Italy that are as enchanting as any ever filmed. True, the gore of the murders is likewise captured in verismo fashion! But Director Carlei has a fine eye and a keen sense of character development - and has gathered some of the most beautiful Italian actors around: Francesca Neri, Jacques Perrin, Colao to name only a few, and at the same time has envisioned evil in the persona of Federico Pacifici! The ending may be a bit syrupy - but, after all that has gone before, heavy dessert isn't all bad!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving, lyrical film, November 1, 2003

By 

Jay Hellums (DENHAM SPRINGS, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flight of the Innocent (DVD)

This is the rarest of films -- action and violence are present, certainly -- yet, due to the vulnerability of the protagonist, a young boy, the viewer is "brought into" the film in a way that is impossible with the macho, untouchable action heroes that frequently litter such films. The tension and suspense is offset by a lyricism also not present in most "action" films. Ultimately, this is a beautiful, life-affirming film wrapped up in the guise of an action film. A unique film -- don't miss it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MASTERPIECE OF EXCITEMENT, November 26, 2006

By 

RealCinema "RealCinema" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flight of the Innocent (DVD)

If you are looking for a movie that has a great story, well done acting,fantastic direction and a score that will give you goosebumps when you hear it, look no further Flight of the Innocent is a Masterpiece of pure action and excitement.

I have just finished viewing this movie for the fifth time and I am still not bored with it. I am writing this review now since I have just found out that it has finally been released on dvd, which now is probably the best chance to view this movie better at home.

I have this movie on video bought years ago when it came out and the movie although now 10 years old has not aged a bit. One reviewer on IMDB how the boy got hold of the address, without give any details away about the plot,I would like to point out that the address was written on the boy's bag.

Like I stated before, I have seen this movie more than once and the movie has no plot holes at all. The movie is quite violent especially the shootings, but also a very intelligent one that grabs the viewer from the very start and never lets go. Do yourself a favour people, take note of this movie and if you see it at your local dvd store give it a rent. You will not be disapointed. 10/10