In “A Ciambra,” Italian filmmaker Jonas Carpignano’s sort-of sequel to 2015’s “Mediterranea,” the lines between documentary and fiction are blurred to the point of non-existence.
The director follows a Romani family who play versions of themselves, and specifically focuses on a 14-year-old boy named Pio (Pio Amato), whose petty crime apprenticeship with his father and older brothers leads to adult responsibilities before he’s ready, as well as a potentially devastating moral crisis.
Pio lives with his large, extended family in a run-down apartment complex on the abandoned outskirts of Gioia Tauro, a small southern Italian port city known for its part in international drug movement and for the way its city government collapses every time organized crime groups like ‘Ndrangheta step in to take over.