Life is Life (La vita va così) is an affecting story with great comic moments proving that money can’t buy everything.
Life is Life (La vita va così) screens as part of the 2026 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival more information about the festival is available here:
The ST. ALi Italian Film Festival is coming soon to cinemas!
Read the Glam Adelaide story about the festival here: The ST. ALi Italian Film Festival – Glam Adelaide
Life is Life (La vita va così) is a highly engaging drama/comedy set in the beautiful south of Sardinia where an old shepherd takes on a big property developer trying to buy his land to turn his community into a luxury holiday development but the shepherd is determined not to sell.
Beginning at the very end of 1999, Giacomo (Diego Abatantuono), a wealthy property developer from Milan plans to turn a small Sardinian village with a pristine beach into a luxury eco resort. He gathers his executive team together to discuss the plans for the resort and discovers that the only thing standing in the way of the development is a small plot of land and house owned by an elderly shepherd, Efisio (Giuseppe Ignazio Loi), whose family has been grazing cows on the land and the beach for generations. Giacomo and his team dismiss Efisio’s resistance believing that they can easily buy him out as they have done with everyone else.
Giacomo dispatches Mariano (Aldo Baglio), one of his top foreman with no emotional attachments to oversee the project. Mariano discovers that while the villagers support the development and the employment and money that would flow into the area from the development, Efisio is determined to hold out, even as Efisio’s daughter Francesca (Virginia Raffaele) supervises the daily procession of local villagers to Efisio’s house to plead with him to sell.
As the years pass and the offers of money from Giacomo’s company increases to ridiculous amounts and the daily visitors to Efisio’s house become more esteemed, Efisio still refuses to sell.
Based on the true story of Ovidio Marras (who died in 2024 aged 93), writer and director Riccardo Milani has created a sometimes poignant David vs Goliath story with moments of very good humour with the exquisite coast of Southern Sardinia as the background.
Diego Abatantuono, Aldo Baglio and Virginia Raffaele (along with the rest of the cast) perform well but are outshone by the outstanding performance of Giuseppe Ignazio Loi who is not a professional actor but is a real-life shepherd.
Stay for the excellent closing credit song featuring the whole cast.
Life is Life (La vita va così) is an affecting story with great comic moments proving that money can’t buy everything.
Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating 4 out of 5
Distributor: PalaceFilms
