Freaks Out

Freaks Out is a 2021 Italian historical-fantasy drama film directed by Gabriele Mainetti. It was entered in the main competition at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. It received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising the acting, cinematography, production value and themes, but some criticism towards excessive length and lack of focus. It won the Leoncino d'Oro award at the 78th Venice Film Festival, and the VriendenLoterij Audience Award at the 51st Rotterdam Film Festival. Plot In 1943, in the middle of the World War II, shows is running of the Circus Mezzapiotta, owned by the Jew Israel. Four freaks perform there: Matilde, a girl who produces electricity and electrocutes anyone who touches her; Cencio, an albino boy who can control all insects; Fulvio, a "man-beast" suffering from hypertrichosis, and therefore covered in hair from head to toe, endowed with superhuman strength; and finally Mario, a dwarf with a slight mental retardation and the ability to manipulate metal objects. The worsening of the conflict puts the survival of the Circus at risk, so Israel proposes that the four of them attempt to travel to America; Fulvio, on the other hand, proposes that they find work at the prestigious Berlin Zircus, a sumptuous show put on by the Nazis who have occupied Rome. The Zircus is actually the realm of Franz, a German pianist with six fingers on each hand who possesses clairvoyant powers: he had a premonition of Hitler's suicide and the arrival of four beings with superhuman powers that could save the fate of the Third Reich (as well as various events and inventions that will happen in the years following the end of the conflict); for this reason he created the Zircus in order to gather all the freaks in the area, who undergo deadly torture in an attempt to identify the saviors. Israel manages to convince the four freaks to leave for America, but after collecting their savings he disappears. After fortunately escaping a roundup in an attempt to go looking for him in Rome, the four decide to separate: Matilde, the only one who believes in Israel's good faith, leaves to look for him, while the other three go to the Berlin Zircus. Matilde avoids an attempted rape by a German soldier, and saves herself by electrocuting him with her powers; she is then saved by a shabby group of partisans led by the Hunchback, who tries to use her power for their cause.