The Stolen Children

What is it about Italian neo-realists, even in this day and age, which drives them to film their view of the corruptions of society through the eyes of a child? Sentimentality, perhaps. Amelio's film, at any rate, soon falls foul of maudlin worthiness as it recounts the tale of two kids - the 11-year old girl (Scalici) a prostitute - taken away from their mother and entrusted to a cop (Lo Verso). As he escorts them from Milan to Sicily after an orphanage in Rome refuses to accept the girl, the pair gradually come to love and be loved by their reluctant guardian. Decently acted, but alarmingly bereft of originality or analytical insights, it's a well-meaning dirge of a movie.