Running Against

Running time: N/A

Daniele had a choice. He could spend his national service working with the visually handicapped or the physically handicapped. His new friend Pablo suggested that it would be easier working with the ''blind, moles and squint eyes'' because ''cripples are a nasty bunch.'' Pablo should know. He's a paraplegic physical therapist working with disabled Romans. It soon becomes clear, however, that it's not the ''cripples'' that are nasty, just Pablo. At this point, Running Against could have proceeded in a predictable fashion. Characters could fight, then slowly earn each other's respect and friendship, all the while rising above their disabilities. But physical disabilities are not the subject matter for Antonio Tibaldi's subtle and complex film. Refreshingly, the handicaps of many of the characters are just the matter-of-fact setting for the real story of this film. Tibaldi is more interested in the forces that motivate people, and he begins with creating the complex and manipulative Pablo, who seems to use others' fears against them. It is this fear that Tibaldi examines: Fear of rejection, fear of commitment, fear of failure. Ultimately, it is fear that controls much of our lives, and as this amazing film portrays, fear is not unique to the handicapped characters. And it is in the hands of a maverick filmmaker such as Tibaldi that we once again see that we can defeat our fear. --Rodger Hughes