The Black Sheep

Nicola has spent most of his life in a mental hospital, though not always as a patient. His mother had problems with her mental health. When Nicola grew old enough to understand some of what went on at home, the adults around him preferred to say he was like his mother. Today Nicola lives among imaginary friends of his own and loves Marinella from a distance. Ascanio Celestini's Italian film comes out of his own stage piece and he plays the lead himself. The telling does not use the hospital as a storehouse of oddity; the real question is who put someone there and why. The film also touches on the argument in Italy over closing the asylums. The tone is comic and angry at once, and the manner is that of a fable.