the lithium conspiracy

the first film of the 2014 italian film festival for me
a thriller written by respected italian author tullio avoledo
breve storia di lunghi tradimenti - or - the lithium conspiracy
opening scenes very impressive - huge bright white salt flats
beautiful blue and white-cloudy sky and a horse-drawn carriage
a signing ceremony then the approach of  brightly garbed natives
met in turn with the charge of a small band of armed infantrymen
this film looking good - then cuts to the modern day equivalent
armed police in turin clashing with placard-bearing protesters
a man dashing down some stairs through the police and crowds
then a car pursuit through crowded streets and a final head-on crash
cut to a man in a seedy flat talking to his segway mounted landlord
the man being guilio and then seen in conversation with his boss
he is being granted unlimited signing rights on financial transactions
next seen despondently visiting his estranged wife and young daughters
action then in a corporate boardroom and an attractive blond interloper
she announcing a 51% buyout leading to the chairman dashing out
guilio pulling up in his car as the chairman's body lands on the roof
so lots of disjointed scenes no doubt all making sense eventually
lots of dialogue read in sub-titles meaning concentration demanded
but so far so good - next - the action relocates to south america
the country - queimada - ficticious - let's not get too realistic
the bloke (guilio) and the blonde (cecilia) there to do a deal
seen handing over a suitcase of cash to the country's president
he then rejecting the deal because they do not have 'the document'
guilio no idea really what it is all about so mabel the guide explains
she apparantly an agent and explaining it's all about the lithium rights
then back in turin and guilio and his left-wing beliefs now to the fore
sees mabel killed while in a skype conversation and then the car chase
ah right - we have gone back in time to explain the leadup to the pursuit
still confusing - the murderer also the bloke being pursued by guilio
but a setup - his brakes disconnected and hence the head-on crash
right - thanks - that bit explained but there's a lot of other threads
for one - cecilia - now seen as the grand-daughter of mister big
he the buyer of the bank that presumably has the secret 'document'
the baddie in turin one of his hitmen with a twin brother in queimada
one the murderer of mabel and the other one now out to get guilio
a scene then of a pursuit with both riding segways - quite silly really
at which point interest pretty well lost - let's just get it over and done with
a review pre-screening mentioned john grisham - another james bond
whatever - it's quite well done but just too many unlikely scenarios
moral of the story - don't take it at all seriously - the makers aren't
but to complete - mr big also makes money by betting on disasters
the turin baddie planting a bomb in the abandoned nuclear plant
intercepted by james 'guilio' bond - he saves the day (world)
gets the girl (wife), mr big seen lying in state  - yay - finished
nope - final scene - mr big on a plane with cecilia to madagascar
that's it folks - kind of disappointing after the crisp opening
but it all ended up a pretty average thriller-flick-thing
some novelty factor being a foreign language fil-um
but hopefully not the best at the italian film festival
looking forward to something more original...