Lamerica

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Lamerica

Directed by	Gianni Amelio
Produced by	Mario Cecchi Gori
Written by	Gianni Amelio, Andrea Porporati, Alessandro Sermoneta
Starring	Enrico Lo Verso Michele Placido Piro Milkani Carmelo Di Mazzarelli Elida Janushi Sefer Pema Idajet Sejdia Marieta Ljarja
Music by	Franco Piersanti
Distributed by	New Yorker Films
Release date(s)	October 4, 1995 (USA)
Running time	116 min
Language	Italian, Albanian
IMDb profile

Lamerica is an award-winning 1994 film directed by Gianni Amelio.

1 Plot
2 Awards
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Gino (played by Enrico Lo Verso) and Fiore (Michele Placido) are Italian racketeers who come to Albania just after the fall of the communists to set up a fictive firm and pocket the grants. They need a stooge and choose Spiro Tozaj/Michele Talarico (Carmelo Di Mazzarelli), an old man in a prison, who turns out to be an Italian veteran from World War II. Easily confused and utterly impoverished, this elderly former political prisoner seems the perfect choice, until he unexpectedly disappears. Gino is assigned to find him, setting out a journey that leads him to discover Spiro's tragic personal history and become intimately acquainted with the full extent of Albanian poverty. The two follow a group of Albanians who are headed for Italy in search for a better life. The Albanian exodus parallels that of Italians for the United States, which is where Spiro believes that they are heading.