TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "PALIO"
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...
I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky the horse Capitol of the world. I remember watching horse races on TV with my family, wearing my mother’s best and largest hat, a strand of her pearls, and sipping tip with my hands covered by gloves. We would bet on the horses with pennies, and every year I would always bet on the Horse with the prettiest name. It was a decent plan, since there is so much luck involved anyway.
In Italy, their horse races, or PALIO, could not be more different. The name of the game is bribery and the rules are more smudged guidelines for how to behave.
If you can get past the fact that the jockeys use canes to spur their horses on, and that the animals are not as humanely raced as they are here, this is a thrilling film. Where American jockeys sit atop highly polished leather saddles, the Italians go bareback. Where we have well-kept stadiums that exist year round, Italy uses two of its main piazzas in Tuscany to fill with sand and hold the races. Jockeys are encouraged to shove and beat one another in an attempt to dis-mount a rider. The unmanned horses continue to race in the pack, and must be pushed by cane, back and away from taking the lead.
Another fascinating concept to me was the level of bribery and corruptness that occurs for each race. Riders are selected by each club, and allocated a certain amount of money to pay off other jockeys, the run-in jockey especially. Not only does this bribing happen, but it happens openly in the sport. We hear one group of women saying that he is a cheating swine and that his smugness is annoying. Bruschelli is also a main trainer for the horses selected each Palio. It doesn't seem fair at all. It actually isn't, but the people tend to like that. Then comes Bruschelli's student, Atzeni, who wins the first Palio of the summer. Atzeni is ready for his career to start, and is determined that his teacher will not beat him. Bruschelli seems confident that he can buy out the best circumstances that will carry him to his next victory, and large paycheck, but Atzeni is sure he can win both Palios and set a record for the youngest jockey to do just that. One is winning for money, the other for glory.
VERDICT: On the fence.
DIRECTED BY Cosima Spender WRITTEN BY John Hunt, Cosima Spender FEATURING Gigi Bruschelli, Giovanni Atzeni, Silvano Vigni, Andrea de Cortes, Renato Romei
Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com
CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.