On the Edge (2009) User Reviews

We are here to help you... Just don't try to have any feelings

[tenshi_ippikiookami · 8/10 · 28 June 2016]

Susanna, a 50-year-old woman who has always fought against women's discrimination, sees a young woman being beaten on the road to her summer house. She convinces her husband to take her home and help her. But when her son comes with his girlfriend to celebrate her birthday, things change...

"La bella gente" is a very interesting film about how easy is to help people when they are far away and don't intrude with your lifestyle and your beautiful middle class life, and how easy it's to criticize others but more difficult to see your own problems and failures. Susanna's character, all desire to help and show how kind and generous she is, has to confront her own prejudices and worldviews. Not only her, everyone in the movie has something to answer from, and no one here is perfect or flawless. Making Nadja, the young foreign woman, a kind of a pet for the family, shows a lot of what is wrong with some kind of views of society and lifestyles. The plot may not be very original, but it is very well developed, and the direction, not flashy, but stolid, helps to elevate the picture. The acting is quite good too, even if sometimes is a little bit one-note.

All in all, it is a very good movie, that will make the viewer think a little bit about the world we live in, and the situations that bring people to the places they are at, and the decisions they choose.

Saved or Exploited?

[lavatch · 8/10 · 7 October 2022]

"La bella gente" falls within the tradition of Italian neorealism. Early in the film, a young woman is rescued by a concerned husband and wife after she is observed being physically abused along the side of the road. It appears on the surface that this will be a film about abused women. Instead, it evolves into a film about the treatment of immigrants.

Nadja was a well-educated girl who came to Italy from Ukraine. She now speaks perfect Italian as well as Russian. She was first taken into bondage and forced to work as a prostitute. Then, Susanna, who assists in a program for abused women, convinces her husband Alfredo to bring the young woman to their country retreat to ensure her safety.

Against her will, Nadja is taken by car to the family home by Alfredo. After a failed attempt at an escape, Nadja then becomes comfortable as she lives in secrecy with Susanna and Alfredo. A plan is made to take Nadja to Rome where she will be placed in decent living quarters and given a job.

The plan falls apart with the arrival of Giulio, the son of Susanna and Alfredo. Giulio shamelessly seduces Nadja, then dumps her. In the most surprising twist of the film, Susanna actually accuses the naive Nadja of inciting the brief affair with her son. Despite her experience in treating abused women, she not only fails to recognize that her son is a reprobate, but she even accuses her husband (falsely, as it turns out) of having illicit thoughts about Nadja.

The filmmakers clearly point to the exploitation of a young immigrant both by the pimp along the road and by the well-intentioned but flawed actions of the family. The most depraved family members were Giulio and his trashy girlfriend Flaminia.

But much responsibility must also be assigned to Susanna, who proved incapable of following through on her plan rescue Nadja. A turning point was when Susanna failed to prevent Giulio from taking Nadja on a trip to the village. The plan was to keep Nadja away from the community where she might be abducted by her pimp. Once alone with Nadja, the amoral Giulio seduced her.

In the strange yet compelling ending of the film, Nadja is simply dropped off at the train station with some cash and the name of a contact. Incredibly, all seems to be forgiven by Susanna and her husband. As for Nadja, the time spent in the application of her lipstick prior to boarding the train portends a new, cynical chapter of her life after the rude welcome she has received by friend and foe alike in her new country.