The implications that this film makes about Italian family life are somewhat shocking. This film highlights the dark side of family life in Italy to the extreme. There doesn't seem to be too many positive events that happen to the main cast besides the ending. This film may portray the idea to some that family stays together no matter what and is the strongest bond. However, I think that this idea is taken to the extreme and family is willing to tolerate abhorrent behavior from other family members that in my opinion should not be tolerated.
The first scene I want to talk about is when Anna's sister takes the kids away from her. Anna's sister basically kidnaps Bruce and Valeria and drives off in her car. Her reasoning for this is that Anna can't take care of them and therefore does not deserve them. While I can understand the sentiment, was there not a better way to go about it? Her family seems to be doing well and maybe she could have tried to actually communicate with Anna and maybe take her in for a bit so she could get back on her feet. Snatching the kids away from their mother at such a young age would do more harm than good in my honest opinion. What is so crazy to me is that Anna seems to forgive her at the tail end of the movie. I feel that if it were anyone else in that situation they would not tolerate it and would never speak to that person ever again. This conveys the idea that as long as you are family you should forgive your family members, no matter how egregious their acts are.
Another scene that conveys this idea is the scene where Bruno and Valeria reconcile over Bruno abandoning the family during his teen years. Bruno when he was younger abandoned his sister and mother after he got into an argument with his mother. It is implied that he never came back for a while. Later towards the end of the movie they talk about it and make amends. I don't think that this scene is as egregious as the previous example, however it still conveys the same idea that you should forgive your family no matter what. I feel like most people would not be able to forgive someone the same way that Valeria forgave Bruno. Overall, the idea that family should be forgiven no matter how hard it may be permeates throughout this film.
Many people might see this as a positive theme that is heartwarming in some ways. However, I see it as a dark theme and commentary about this value of family. It stretches the limits of how far you are willing to go for family. If you are willing to forgive your family members for every time they hurt you, they now know in their mind no matter how horrible they act they will be forgiven. The lack of accountability and self respect seeps through all of this, and this dark tone overhangs this aspect of the film.
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