VENICE 2021: Il Buco
Calabria, 1961. A small town gathers outside of a bar to watch television, playing a newsreel on the construction of the tallest skyscraper of Milan, in Northern Italy. This is a time of economic growth and migration, where southerners flocked to the north of the country in the hope of building a brighter future for themselves. Michelangelo Frammartino’s Il Buco is about a counterculture, with the citizens of the village discovering a hole in the ground that leads to a series of caves, reaching well over 700 meters of depth – at the time, the third deepest cave in the world.
The film is a fine example of the power of slow cinema. With no dialogues and music, the visuals are the only reason that make this film such an unforgettable experience: shot entirely on location with no actors and fixed camera angles, it is as if the audience is watching a documentary about the multiple expeditions inside the cave, as well as witnessing short snippets of life in the village.
It is a deliberately paced watch that ends up being immensely rewarding for those willing to accept the lack of narrative or characters or engaging events. The sound is what truly elevates the already impeccable camerawork, adding an extra layer of detailed texture that truly makes the film come alive. Be it a farmer’s echo reverberating through the hills, children’s laughter through tiny streets at night, droplets falling into pools of water, or burnt pieces of newspaper echoing in the dimly lit cave, the combination of audio and visuals ends up crafting unforgettable and one-of-a-kind moments that more than make up for the intentional lack of any sort of conventional storytelling.
Il Buco is all about the power of nature and the smallness of humanity, emphasised in the juxtaposition between small figures in the vast, misty valleys of Calabria and the claustrophobic, wet walls of the cave. The imagery is unforgettable, meticulously crafted in a way that feels calculated and natural. Its slow pacing is bound to bore most audience members, but the 93-minutes runtime more than makes up for it by having a rather focused vision. A great first introduction to the uninitiated of lethargic films like this.