The Ignorant Angels Review: Tells A Story Of World Seen And Unseen | Le Fate Ignoranti

Stars: Ren Hanami, Luca Argentero, Cristiana Capotondi

Director: Ferzan Ozpetek

Streaming Platform: Disney+

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

On April 13 the TV series The Ignorant Angels will be released on the Disney+ platform, taken from what the film was in 2001. Obviously directed by Ferzan Ozpetek, who also wrote the screenplay together with the inseparable Gianni Romoli, Carlotta Corradi and Massimo Bacchini, essentially resuming the original story but changing the whole cast, except for the iconic Serra Yilmaz. Disney has begun to choose to offer in its catalog at least half of the contents that are inherent to inclusiveness, and which therefore bring to light minorities of all sorts. And here the doors open wide to the first Italian Disney original series, which, among other things, will be available in the Star section.

The Ignorant Angels, paradoxically, is the series of the first times. Although the subject is already known, being the TV series the adaptation of the 2001 film of the same name, the project represents on the one hand the debut on the small screen of Ferzan Ozpetek – who curates the series both as showrunner and director – and from the another is the debut of Disney + in its offer of original Italian productions. And, as a debut, it couldn’t have been better. One of the main aspects to be decidedly curious at a first glance at the initial sequences, is the age difference of the impact of certain topics: starting from betrayal, up to LGBT+ issues. The wide breath that could be breathed in the 2001 film, today has a vague dark air, almost of a small crystallized microcosm on the terrace of a sunny neighborhood south of Rome.

The Ignorant Angels Review: The Story

Antonia (Cristiana Capotondi) is married to Massimo (Luca Argentero), who one day meets Michele (Eduardo Scarpetta) who lives in a lively condominium whose administrator is Serra (Yilmaz) and where many pass by spirited personalities, including Annamaria and Roberta (Ambra Angiolini and Anna Ferzetti), Mara and Luisella (Lilith Primavera and Paola Minaccioni) and Luciano and Riccardo (Filippo Scicchitano and Edoardo Purgatori). The two worlds will inevitably intersect but, above all, to use the same words in the voice over of Luca Argentero: after every death there is a rebirth. And here there will be more than one of rebirths, of course.

In fact, The Ignorant Angels spread over eight episodes, it is undeniable that it is enjoyable and that in part it evokes the film version of twenty years ago, with that unexpected lightness that came from the lips of some character drawn from the archives of Pedro Almodovar. But it is evident that today everything assumes a congenital weakness, if not a hint of anachronism. In 2001, the rigidity expressed by Margherita Buy was gradually guided within a new humanity, and the novelty was experienced on both sides: by those who discovered it and by those who let themselves be discovered. And in the presentation of every possible facet, the sweetness and fragility of the two universes became the common language, which allowed the only thing that really mattered in the whole story to speak: the need to be sincerely loved.

The Ignorant Angels Review: The Analysis

The Ignorant Angels faithfully follows the narrative path that we had already found in the cinema, but – obviously  also explores other avenues, thanks to the possibility given by a greater length of the story. This is how the world of Ozpetek can blossom and show itself to the public in all its variety: from the two opposing worlds, that of Antonia (Cristiana Capotondi) and Michele (Eduardo Scarpetta) up to the secondary characters, who detach themselves from the background and they themselves become tools through which the director wants, over the course of the episodes, to bring two worlds together.

The Ignorant Angels is indeed an encounter, not a clash. And from an encounter, new perspectives, new friendships and new lives can be generated, in the sense of rebirth. A theme very dear to Ozpetek, who in addressing his first TV series not only chose the title he is associated with more than others, but also decided (perhaps for this very reason) not to want to overturn the story that gave him so much.

Speaking of the world of Ozpetek, this TV version of the film is the spokesperson for the themes most dear to him, from inclusion to separation, up to the most different forms of love. Most of all, however, the director wants to reiterate what has always been the concept of him dearest to him, the theme of the extended family. Or, as the character of Serra (Serra Yılmaz) says, the “logical and non-biological family”.

In 2022 practically all the subtext has changed. Relationships are fastened and untied, leaving the characters involved fixed in their individualism, who indeed enjoy the other and madly desire his presence, but only to take away the necessary time and then quickly leave. And no one suffers from it, rather what hurts is the unsatisfied need, not the lack of the other as such. But it is clear that the problem is certainly not in the form, but in the contents. Although even the actors, sometimes, it seems that they play their part without really relating to each other, even in the acting.

The Ostiense district in Rome, so dear to Ferzan Ozpetek, still hosts human creatures desperate for some fragments of love, but finding them all lost, lost, and above all unaware of everything: to replicate a formula that had once been effective, but that no longer works today. From an aesthetic point of view, the series The Ignorant Angels tells a world seen and unseen, in which the cynicism of Paolo Genovese ‘s 2016 Perfect Strangers, for example, is already taken for granted. And, probably, it is precisely starting from a greater relational realism that such stories can work. Beyond any theme in favor of inclusiveness.

The Ignorant Angels Review: The Last Words

From an aesthetic point of view, the series The Ignorant Angels tells a world seen and unseen, in which the cynicism of Paolo Genovese’s 2016 Perfect Strangers, for example, is already taken for granted. And, probably, it is precisely starting from a greater relational realism that such stories can work. Beyond any theme in favor of inclusiveness. The Ignorant Angels can thus be a series that makes passion and love its starting point and destination but does not forget the strength of logical thought and choices. The now iconic lunches shown by Ozpetek in his films best summarize everything: food as a glue and pretext for being together. And the new cast of this story, which has already been partially seen, just has to set the table and sit down at the table: lunch is served, but this time not at the cinema.