The Beast (La Belva) premiered on 27th November 2020 on Netflix. Directed by Ludovico Di Martino, the 97-minute-long Italian drama-film stars Fabrizio Gifuni, Lino Musella, Andrea Pennacchi, and Monica Piseddu alongside other cast members.
Riva’s Attempt To Save His Daughter
As the film opens we see Leonida Riva (Fabrizio Gifuni), an ex-military captain in special forces, asking for his doctor to increase the dosage of his therapeutic drugs as he suffers from PTSD after his traumatic military experience. He is not a family man as his life and work seem to have alienated him from his relations. He lives all alone whereas his wife, teenage son Mattia (Emmanuele Linfatti), and daughter Teresa (Giada Gagliardi) live separately.
Teresa is proud of his dad and for his work but on the other hand, Mattia loathes him. Things are bad for Riva as it is and while waiting for his daughter to come over as he prepares dinner for them she is kidnapped from a nearby diner. It is here that a father’s search for his daughter begins and that is what we follow as the film progresses.
Our protagonist here belongs from a military background and it is your first hint that is going to be some well-planned action-scenes in the film. The screenplay in The Beast is engaging and we delve deeper into the life and mindset of Riva through his flashbacks and this adds a lot to the entire character arc here. If I talk about the storyline, it is predictable and numerous movies have been made with the same theme but the one thing that manages to get this film through are its gripping action sequences. You know from the very first scene of the movie what’s coming your way.
The film talks about military caused PTSD but in a lowkey manner and while this adds a lot of depth to the character of Riva, it would have been better if the film focused more on other parts than the entire repetitive father-daughter scenario. The film is fast-paced, gritty, and emotional but again, you care a lot less about the fight when it happens in every nook and corner. More than Riva’s daughter’s love-led journey, it is about him facing things he escaped from.
Summing up, the performances in The Beast are watch worthy but are better off as individuals than as one whole family unit. The characters lack drama and emotion when together, while their individual grief and sorrow are way more powerful and relatable to the audience.
Stream It or Skip It
SKIP IT! With every feel-good movie that is stocking up on Netflix, you can watch The Beast if you want some flick with blood and gore. But not if you’re looking for some substance in the action, both The Beast and Extraction have a common underlying theme that mostly leads to violence and the reason is someone’s life that is on the edge and the one who cares about it becomes the shield. There are various examples to draw similarities here about how reoccurring this theme is but well, The Beast is not the movie you’ll want to see if you want to watch something new.
The Beast is now streaming on Netflix.
Read our other reviews here.
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