Cover Art

Credits

Director: Lucio Fulci Starring: Fabio Testi, Ivana Monti, Marcel Bozzuffi, Guido Alberti Screenplay: Gianni De Chiara, Giorgio Mariuzzo, Ettore Sanzò, Lucio Fulci Country: Italy AKA:Luca Il Ccontrabbandiere

Like so many of his contemporaries, Fulci is able to sidestep the criticisms that would otherwise apply to his films for two reasons: 1) he was able to carve out a particular niche wherein his viewers would expect the very things that most reviewers hate and Fulci would, consistently, deliver them, and, 2) his movies are a lot of fun to watch. It could be argued, convincingly, that the man was a hack and that, without the abundance of slow motion carnage in his films, there would be very little, if anything, to recommend about them. It could also be argued, however, that the violence and bloodshed in Fulci's films are the raison d'etre absolute and, therefore, their very existence justifies the film as a whole. In this way, Fulci's films operate in a similar manner to that of pornography, albeit pornography with a little more plot and a little less stigma. Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this and if critics can rouse a call to arms over films such as 9 Songs, and extrapolate on its virtues or lack thereof, then certainly there is nothing to suggest that Lucio Fulci should have to meet with unbridled vitriol rather than intelligent debate. After all, in essence 9 Songs is simply a collection of graphic sex scenes interspersed with terrible music, banal dialogue and poor acting. Replace 'graphic sex' with 'graphic violence' and the interchange is complete. I am in no way suggesting that 9 Songs is pornography, mind you, I am simply trying to draw a parrel between many reviewers' acceptance of the content in one film based entirely on its art house credentials, while the same reviewers disregard another film due to its sordid reputation and the fact that it didn't win the Grand Prix at Cannes.

So what we have here, then, is Lucio Fulci's foray into the mob picture. Yes, there are a number of choice set pieces and, yes, the dubbing is painfully bad but that is almost where the comparisons between Contraband and something like The Beyond end. You see, against all expectations and, I'll be honest, belief, the plot of Contraband is coherent and, even more surprisingly, linear. I am in no way suggesting that the plotting is tight, or inventive or anything other than sensible and workmanlike. The narrative simply hangs together without the help of a Fulci aficionado providing a detailed, and desperate, interpretation and, well, I couldn't really ask for much more than that.

Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) is an idealistic smuggler of cigarettes. When his brother, a fellow smuggler, is killed by members of a rival gang, Luca embarks on an increasingly violent odyssey of deception and revenge. His wife (Ivana Monti) and young son (an irritating and maddeningly dubbed child actor, you'll be glad to know) are eventually embroiled in Luca's quest for vengeance. The film culminates in a shoot-out, one that contains probably the greatest Fulci deus ex machina of all time in the guise of a particular Don who has a penchant for watching bad television Westerns. In the interim we are treated to assorted stabbings, gun shots to the face and neck, prolonged torture with a Bunsen burner and an anal rape scene shot and edited in a similar way to Fucli's now infamous wooden splinter gag.