Genre Feature Film

Synopsis

When 10 year old cinephile Mirco Balleri severely damages his eyesight, his vision begins to fade away to complete darkness. Despite his parents’ wishes to keep him by their side, he is required by Italian law to attend a residential school for blind children. Initially. The shock of the school and his blindness cause Mirco to rebel, but soon he overcomes his loss by finding a magical way to share the world with others. Red Like the Sky is based on the true story of one of Italy’s most renown cinematic sound editors, Mirco Mencacci

Key Themes

Loss
Disability
Friendship
Creativity
Imagination
Hope

Main Characters

Mirco Balleri – a young Italian boy who blinds himself while playing with a gun one day and must move to a special boarding school, the Cassoni Institute, for blind children.

Felice – a fellow student at the Cassoni Institute and Mirco’s first friend.

Francesca – the custodian’s daughter who Mirco meets and befriends. With her help they makes excursions into the city, rides bicycles together and get into all sort of other adventures!

Don Giulio – a kind, young priest at the Cassoni Institute and Mirco’s teacher. He gives Mirco a tape recorder which helps Mirco record his stories.

The Headmaster – the director of the Cassoni Institute who does not appreciate Mirco’s sound-recordings.

Valerio – the school bully who bothers Mirco and Felice.

Before the Film

• Before beginning the film, ask yourself what type of film you are watching: this is called the genre. Genre means style of film. For example, is the film a feature film (a long film which tells one main story), a short film (usually from a few minutes to half an hour), a documentary or an animation?

• Ask yourself what the title of the film might mean: speculate as to why the filmmakers would have chosen the specific title. After watching the film, try to make sense of the title in context to the film. Compare your understandings about the meaning of the title before and after watching the film.

• Films use lighting, sound, different angles, movement, sequence and timing to convey meaning. Remember to keep these aspects in mind the following when watching a film.

Things to Think and Talk About Post-Screening

• What does the title show about the film? Why do they call the sky red? Do you think this is a literal or a figurative interpretation? What do you think this shows about the nature of interpretation? Why?

• Before 1975, children who were or became blind were required by Italian law to relocate to residential schools made especially for the blind. Do you think this is a good or bad idea? How would you feel about moving away from your friends, family and even city if you became blind? What if you were forced to move away because you broke a leg, or caught an illness? Do think this change would help you (by being in an environment with people similar to you) or hurt you?

• Several different types of music were used. What mood did it create? Did it remind you of something? Did you notice certain points when the music played? Did it enhance your feeling or closeness to the character?

• What did you think of the character development, particularly of Mirco and of Valerio? Their characters changed over the course of the film: explain why you think this is so, and what caused the change.

• To show the disintegration of Mirco’s eyeshit, the filmmakers progressively showed his vision as more blurred and hazy. Do you think these effects were successful in portraying his gradually blindness? Did you feel it gave you insight into what it might be like to be blind? Can you think of any other effects?

• When Mirco’s taped stories were played, we saw leaves and trees, and vines growing through the school dormitories. Do you think this was a good way to show what Mirco might have been aiming at? Do you think he saw it more richly than was possible to be depicted in the film? Or less? Explain.
• List three characters you wish you had better insight into. Explain why and at which points in the film you would have liked to “see through their eyes”.

Questions and Discussion Topics

• What were the main themes of the film? Use examples from the film to demonstrate at least three major themes. Did you find any of these themes particularly important to you personally? Why or why not.

• What do you think the most important scene of the film was? What made it so powerful? Describe why you think it was important as well as what techniques were used to create and emphasize its importance: narrative, action, music, sound, lighting, camera work, framing and editing should be considered.

• If you had to eliminate one scene from the film, which would it be? Why would you choose that scene? What do you think would be lost from or change in the film by eliminating that theme?

• What scene was your particular favourite? Briefly describe what you thought the funniest, scariest and saddest scenes in the film were, and what made them this way.

• If you were to recommend Red Like the Sky to a friend, why would you recommend it and what would you tell them?

Exercises/Activities

• Write a review of the film, 300-400 words long.

• Create a storyboard to the next scene after the film ended. What happened to the characters? Pick at least three characters and describe what happens to them afterward.

• Write a letter from the point of view of one character to that of another.

• Think of another film (or book) with similar themes and compare how the two films examined the issue and dealt with the issue. Were they similar or did they treat the issue very differently? Which film did you think better represented the theme/issue?

• Write about the film as if it were an event in a newspaper, a fairy tale or myth, or a personal diary of events that had happened to you!

• Draw a map of what you think the location might have looked like.

• Make a character sketch explaining how their appearance represents their character.

• Create a scene broken down into a sequence of six (6) pictures.