The War of Bumpkins: the eternal war between the rich and the poor in the scenario of an unusual and fascinating Apulia

The War of Bumpkins: the eternal war between the rich and the poor in the scenario of an unusual and fascinating Apulia

Since the last thursday in cinemas The War of Bumpkins, the film by Davide Barletti and Lorenzo Conte from the novel by Carlo D'Amicis and written by the directors together with De Amicis, Barbara Alberti with the collaboration of Giulio Calvani.

An original movie starting with the cast. Made up of 24 young people under the age of 18, not professionals, Apulian people from the most diverse experiences that have been trained in the movie world after being selected.

The film

Catherine Taricano writes in a review on Cinecittà News "The War of Bumpkins is a movie that is difficult to define: a stylized work with universal ambitions but at the same time an all-Italian story. Instead of pursuing the usual tricolor clichés, studied at a table to gain the consent of the foreign public, The War of Bumpkins proposes, through a very realistic fairy tale in which the only human presence is that of children and adolescents, a journey to discovering a South Italy where tragedies and conflicts seem to be constantly repeated without hope of resolution. Something ancestral that is seen from the prologue (where Claudio Santamaria plays an ancient knight who speaks Byzantine) set in an intentionally poorly defined historical period, in which we see aristocracy and people clash and implode in the eternal opposition between "Gentlemen" and "Bumpkins".

Synopsis

In Torrematta, a wild and endless territory where there is no trace of adults, every night a fight between bands is fought. On the one hand the children of the rich, the gentlemen, and on the other the children of the earth, the bumpkins. At the head of their respective formations there are the fascinating Francisco Marinho and the grim Scaleno. They fight from the cradle, dragging their "soldiers" into class conflict. But that year the cafons decided to rebel against the lords' supremacy. The symbols of power will be targeted and then literally attacked, transforming the clash into a real war of conquest. As they arise in adult life, behind all the young protagonists of this story, an age dies. And with it the last opportunity to fight a war made of violence, but also of epic and poetry.

Location

The film is set in Apulia of the '70s in a fantasy country Torrematta. It shows a much less well known and exploited image than that seen in many scenes of films shot in Apulia in recent years. But also a truly fascinating image, made of marshes, lagoons, uncultivated fields, abandoned bunkers and military areas, impassable beaches.

Among the main areas involved in shooting are Natural Reserves of Torre Guaceto, between Brindisi and Carovigno (BR), and Le Cesine, in the municipality of Vernole (LE). And then Otranto (LE), in particular Porto Badisco and Grotta della Monaca; Santa Cesarea Terme (LE); Torre Chianca in the town of Lecce and Melendugno (LE).

Trailer