STORY LINE
Bianca and her brother Tomas are orphans, teenagers, virgins and they are all alone in the big city until they meet Maciste, an old italian B- actor who once was Mister Universe, and he becomes the hero they were waiting for.
ABOUT THE FUTURE
Since I first read “Una Novelita Lumpen” I was trapped by two things. First, the stark and haunting voice of Bianca. An old-girl's voice that tells us the story from an uncertain future. A voice with such an absolute lucidity that is able to reveal the funniest part of tragedy. Second, I was fascinated by the plot. Improbable, twisted, contemporary. A story built up from leftovers of cheap movies and novels: An orphan turned into a prostitute at the mercy of two charming muscle men. A blind actor who keeps a treasure in a safe box. Two poor kids who dream of the future.
The movie, like the novel, happens in today's Rome. The Chilean orphans are abandoned to their luck in the periphery of that impossible city, in the margins of european decadence. So they begin a bizarre mourning trip, a clumsy dangerous and somehow ridiculous adventure.
The movie could also be a weird new instalment of the Maciste saga. One where the hero is a bit worn-out and the helpless girl will have to find the way-out by herself. A not very triumphant exit, perhaps, but one that will allow her to survive and get prepared for a new adventure.
LUMPEN
*Etymology: German Lumpenproletariat degraded section of the proletariat, from Lump contemptible person (from Lumpen rags) + Proletariat
1.(Politics) the lowest level of the proletariat, comprising unskilled workers, the unemployed, and the dispossessed, alienated from the class with with they would normally identify and having little or no class solidarity; - an important element in Marxist theory.
2. Of or relating to dispossessed, often displaced people who have been cut off from the socioeconomic class with which they would ordinarily be identified.
3. Vulgar or common; plebeian.
