Far from the homeland: Dishonour and redemption in Mario Monicelli's The Girl with the Gun

Abstract

The journey undertaken by the protagonist Assunta Patanè in Mario Monicelli's film The Girl with the Gun is far more than a mere spatial displacement fired by a desire for revenge, but it gradually takes the form of an itinerary of an individualistic and cultural nature that is eventually to overturn the stereotypes of Assunta's native Sicilian community, thus enabling her to embrace modernity and, in particular, emancipation, both of which are totally alien to her at the opening of the film. The metamorphosis of the protagonist passes through various phases that will lead her towards self-awareness and self-determination, following her arrival in Great Britain with the intent to take revenge on Vincenzo, the man responsible for her dishonour. The polyhedral use of language (Sicilian dialect, Standard Italian and English), the impact of a new society and culture, not to mention the series of relations, above all with male characters so different from each other (Vincenzo, John, Frank and Doctor Osborne), will mark Assunta's gradual path towards maturity. In an atmosphere initially overhung with tragedy but gradually transformed through comedy and humour, the Sicilian woman will succeed in freeing herself from the prejudices and customs of an archaic world, so as to affirm her presence and personal identity, now liberated from the simplistic male–female binary and from the respective roles decreed since antiquity.