The fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the last part of the 20th century, created a class of impoverished people whose only desire was to leave their native lands in search of a future in the more developed nations. The film shows friendship between a Romanian and his counterpart Italian in the post Communist Revolution.Ioan is a boy of about ten, whose father gets killed in gunshot in Romania while trying to help a wounded person on road. Years later when Ioan's future is uncertain, his pal convinces him that there will be more job possibilities in Italy. Traveling with fake passport, the friend is taken away, but Ioan has no trouble continuing to Rome. Now facing the reality, Ioan cannot get a job. Michele, a janitor, surprises him using the facilities he just cleaned, and tells him not to come again. Ioan, who is desperate, gets an offer from Michele to share his apartment paying a price he probably he cannot afford. Michele, begins to realize that Ioan is a good person. In fact, Michele is an older homosexual who starts looking at his room mate in a different light. Eventually Ioan lands a job in a junk yard, that lasts for only a while because the police comes to check on the immigration status of the workers. Ioan discovers his Romanian friend one day, but is horrified by the fact that his pal is nothing but a hustler that works as a male prostitute. When a photographer, Luciana, spots Ioan roaming the streets, she is intrigued by the young man. She sponsors him in getting to model for the fashion designers, taking him to Milan. But she ends up using his innocent face to make a cover page of a man tortured in Romania. Michele thinks he has lost Ioan forever. Ioan, disgusted by the world he does not belong, throws everything away to return to Rome and his life with Michele, a little too late, for that matter.
The harsh realities of what people have to work when they flee to eastern Europe are depicted well in the film like Ioan's friend, resort into gay prostitution, selling sex for a price. Ioan, on the other hand, is different. He does not see what Michele's intentions are. At the same time, Michele is afraid to do a wrong move that will end his strange relationship with Ioan. The acting is good and the scenes credible and well observed. But the movie at some points just doesn't move. Scenes aren't linked well together and where dramatic things do happen, they are not developed in the scene, the film just quickly passes on to something else.
From an entertainment point of view, the film did not have much to offer. (4/10)
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