Francesco Costabile’s Familia follows a fragile family torn apart by one man’s violence. It’s a story about whether a cycle like that can ever actually end, no matter how many times someone promises to change.
Gigi (Francesco Gheghi) grew up in Rome without his father around. His dad, Franco (Francesco Di Leva), spent years in prison after beating his mother, Licia (Barbara Ronchi), badly enough that she finally had the courage to lock him away. When Franco is finally released from prison, he returns to Licia and the boys, only for the police to arrive, arrest Franco, and take Gigi and his brother, Alessandro (Marco Cicalese), into foster care.
Traumatic moments like this tend to shape a man in the wrong direction. Gigi and Alessandro are now barely young adults. They watched Licia try to rebuild their lives without Franco, but Gigi never really let go of his own anger. He finally finds an outlet for it with a crew of skinheads calling themselves Decima Mas. Gigi pledges loyalty to the crew and its leader, who becomes like a father to him.
The gang gives Gigi a sense of belonging, but their actions and anarchistic motives pull him further into a life of violence. He falls for a girl named Giulia (Tecla Insolia) and tells her he doesn’t want her to end up like his mother. Then a street fight turns into a stabbing, and Gigi ends up behind bars himself. While in prison, Gigi is visited by his father, who tells him it’s time to start over and turn his life around once he’s released. When Gigi is finally released from prison, he has to make some hard decisions about whom he hangs out with, his estranged relationship with Giulia, and his “reformed” father’s return.
“His dad, Franco, spent years in prison after beating his mother, Licia…”
I’ve seen more than my fair share of abusive-father dramas. It’s an important subject because it always seems that this story will continue from one family to the next, affecting one community after another. This Italian production managed to grab me more than any American version I’ve seen. It comes down to how authentic it feels, in a style that is completely un-American.
The turning point for me is Gigi becoming, essentially, a skinhead as a teenager — trading his real family for his gang brothers, and his real father for the leader of this violent gang. Alessandro, his older brother, is the one character who sees exactly what’s happening. When their father shows up again, you can feel Alessandro clock it immediately — another cycle starting — and only Alessandro seems to know how it ends.
What sets Familia apart from its American cousins is the tone. This isn’t an after-school special with a tidy message stapled to the end — it’s a gritty street drama that plays closer to a mob film than a Lifetime movie. Francesco Gheghi is a revelation as Gigi — you feel every emotion right along with him, how a gang fight becomes his release, how he shuts down emotionally as a defense mechanism. Francesco Di Leva is almost too perfect… triggering… as Franco, the father. He’s far from perfect, but is he redeemable? Barbara Ronchi is sympathetic and gives a powerful performance as their mother, Licia.
By the end, Familia hits every emotional beat — love, anger, loyalty, all of it — without ever feeling like a scripted issue-based drama. Honestly, this might be the best version of the abusive-family drama I’ve seen on screen. Take my advice: if you think you’ve seen this story before, watch this one anyway.
Costabile’s Familia works because of an incredible cast and a gritty script. It’s proof that even a familiar story can still hit hard when it’s told with honesty and authenticity.
For screening information, visit the Familia official website.
"…Francesco Di Leva is almost too perfect...triggering...as Franco."
