Product Details

• Actors: F. Murray Abraham, Harvey Keitel, Jane March, Paco Reconti, Jordi Moll
• Directors: Renzo Martinelli
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Monarch Video
• DVD Release Date: June 26, 2007
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PDZIYU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #521,287 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Plausible story, great set design, cinematography...otherwise not very good at all., September 13, 2007

By 

Faisi Island (#2) "Faisi" (Faisi Island (#2)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stone Merchant (DVD)

This is a movie about Islamic terrorists, not Islam or Christianity. The main character, Alceo, is a victim of terrorism, a journalist turned scholar who has become obsessed with learning about why his legs were taken away and so many innocents are murdered in the name of Allah.

When we meet him, he is a modern-day Cassandra who recites reason after reason why we find ourselves in a cultural, religious war (like it or not) yet who is dismissed as paranoid and unreasonable.

I failed to find anything in his character's lines that were historically or factually inaccurate. Yet he is ignored and dismissed by everyone, of course, including his wife, his colleagues, and the police.

Keitel and Abraham give performances commensurate with their experience; Jane March does a good job too. The others...well, I must say there is some poor acting in this film.

The dialogue is bad, the editing is bad, continuity is awful, and the screenplay has more than a few weak spots; this is clearly a B movie, maybe even a C movie struggling desperately to rise to a B.

Nevertheless, the storyline is plausible and appropriately frightening.
I read a review from Variety when this movie was released that called the storyline "highly improbable." I'm sure they would have said the same thing about the events of September 11, 2001. Anyone who's ever taken the Dover-Calais ferry or who's lived in Europe will take the premise of this movie seriously.

In spite of these many failings, the film makes a heraldic point, a statement about exactly what the West faces in militant Islam, based on history. This is the only film I can recall having seen that doesn't try to lay blame for today's Islamic jihad on the West's doorstep. None of the usual vacuous, politically correct blather here. He may not know how to write a good movie but the screenwriter certainly knows his Wahabi Salafists.

Because it takes such a risk, swimming against the fashion, the story (taken alone) seems brave and courageous, truthful while respectful, yet duly alarmist to a degree. Duly alarmist because the story is so eerily plausible. Again, anyone who lives in Europe and travels extensively throughout the continent like me knows it is.

Thus, I found the plot rather gripping overall, in spite of the love subplot, which I did not find plausible at all, as it asks us to accept a committed jihadist on the eve of martyrdom falling truly in love with a card-carrying infidel.

I've seen much worse movies. As an interesting contrast, compare Kingdom of Heaven, a very good film as far as entertainment and production quality go...but complete fiction and propaganda from a historical perspective.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Not to be missed...!", October 22, 2008

By 

Rick Henry (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stone Merchant (DVD)

This is one of those rare gems of a film that somehow fell through the cracks of Hollywood mainstream... but should be seen by more people, indeed.

I felt the story-line was a bit implausible, mostly in the "coincidental" meeting of the main characters, all at the same time, at a rather off-the-beaten path locale -- and for two of those main characters to quite become so "involved" with each other, (I mean with the age differences, and "attractability" factors, not making it a believably-positive connection for the most part). Sweeping all that aside, we are given a real treat in viewing a part of Turkey no one hardly ever sees; we are given some stunningly good camera work, at the beginning, and throughout the film in general; the acting is above board, and the "professor" is an extremely well-done part, with a character barely ever encountered in film -- and realistically so!

Granted, there may be a few flaws that are a bit incongruous. Such as: why do they really need "the dove," anyway? (I surmise that part was tied in only as a double way to get to the professor; AND the weakness of the merchant himself, at the last tally, is a little lacking... yet somewhat understood.) But the message in this film is NOT to be dismissed as fanciful, or merely imaginative, or just for the sake of drama. While I mournfully realize this could incite and underscore prejudice towards Muslims in general, one must discern that Islamic radicals, while indeed Muslim, are in a rather special category all their own -- and not to be ignored for their intended lethal-ity.

All in all, I found this one of the better films I've seen in the last couple of years -- since Hollywood has NOT been on the "keen edge" lately of putting out too much of worthwhile/enjoyable note. For anyone who may have missed this in the first go-around, it should be rented for a more than intriguing, satisfying, and thought-provoking evening at home.

This was a really pleasant surprise. Warts and all.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mixed topic in an important film, November 11, 2010

By 

charlie - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stone Merchant (DVD)

This film is a double impact. It deals with an Italian professor whose speciality is radical Islam. For this reason his wife has been a target of reprisal. This story chronicles the ultimate reprisal as the radicals manipulate her to an untimely death.

The underlying theme relates the the husband's struggles as a double amputee.
He lost his legs during an Islamic bomb attack and is constantly striving to keep himself strong and mobile. At the same time he must cope with phantom pain.

The film carries a strong political statement as well as an insightful look at the problems of disability.