On My Skin: The Last Seven Days of Stefano Cucchi

Set in suburban Rome, this is the true story of Stefano Cucchi, who was arrested for possession of drugs, then fell victim to police brutality. Sounds familiar, even boring, I've-seen-it-all-before fare? Far from it, this is no white Rodney King story, there is no morale here, no heroes or anti-heroes, just a dysfunctional police & penal system and its victims. And the movie? Simply, this is one of the best films produced by the ailing Italian cinema of the 2000s. A grueling, insanely gritty, claustrophobic, intense thriller, boosted by an array of painfully brilliant performances and the documentaristic, crammed with close-ups, direction - reminiscent of Kassowitz's work in La Haine. This is an absolute tour de force. If you're even remotely interested in great storytelling, do not miss it.

source: On My Skin: The Last Seven Days of Stefano Cucchi

You know how they say that jail can conform people? How they say that it might do some people good? Hopefully you are also aware that it does more people harm than it does good. And there are humans who are just not cut out for that. Now you may ask, why do they do something criminal in the first place? We are all not perfect and there is also a different bar when it comes to crimes, those who commit them and who gets prison time for them - like different punishments - look no further than the US jail system (many documentaries on that subject to find and watch). Having said all that, this is not just hypothetical, this is something that really happenend with an individual - something that will leave you at the edge of your seat. And no it is not a documentary, but more or less an accurate reenactment of what happened. Not all questions will be answered (with some comparisons and "news" to what happened in the real world after the movie ended) - but that's how life is. While frustrating, hopefully you don't see it as flaw of the movie

I wouldn't really call this a movie, this is a reenactment of a man who was beaten to death while in police custody. Tremendously sad, but doesn't make it a film worth watching. Again; no offence whatsoever towards Stefano Cucchi.

Suffering from insomnia? Watch this movie. It will knock you right out. All this movie consist of is some dude laying in a hospital bed mumbling. beyond boring.

I don't write reviews, even after having seen unforgettable masterpieces. But this time, I have to. And the reason is Alessandro Borghi. I was first mesmerised by his work in "Suburra: La Serie" and wanted more, so decided to give this a chance, and his performance here is nothing short of transcendent. I don't say this lightly, but it's up there with the work of Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" in quality and realism. The film portrays the real life events surrounding the arrest of Stefano Cucchi, a low life addict. While in jail, he suffers a beating at the hands of the arresting officers, and that's where the film takes a turn from any standardised narrative you'd expect - the closest thing I can recall was "Fruitvale Station", but I'd claim that this is more powerful and even better acted. The humanity and authenticity captured by the director and cast is closer to the neo-Iranian cinema, than any Hollywood produced movie. In my humble opinion, Borghi may be the greatest working actor in the world right now, and his tour de force in this picture is a monumental achievement, up there with the best performances in the last few decades. Highly recommended.

The voice dub was obvious and it lacked action, fortunately the excellent acting, the true storyline and lack of subtitles made this a great Italian film.

Excellent movie, while very hard to watch it still is the truth of what happens to this poor young man

This is a truly sad and depressing film about Stefano, a young ex-junkie who is arrested with small quantitities of pot and cocaine. During his search, he falls victim to police brutality acts and gets seriousy injured. The rest of the film consists of the odyssey of Stefano, who is slowly surrendering his body and spirit to pass away, a week after his arrest and while he is still in custody. The movie certainly raises questions about the misuse of power from the authorities but above all is a painful account of the last days of a young man and the parent's reaction to Stefano's tough journey. The film has a very slow tempo, placing the emphasis to the protagonist's emotions. ''Sulla Mia Pelle'' is certainly not a movie for everybody and the viewer should be expecting a deeply melancholic and gloomy atmospehere, no action and a disturbing true story which is difficult to digest.

Events like that of Stefano Cucchi make Italy look like Pinochet's Chile. Movies like this prove it is not. Mind it, this is not a particularly good movie, actually it is rather mediocre, but the fact itself that it was made is a good thing. In a fiction, the protagonist would be a good looking, nice guy, unjustly persecuted; Stefano Cucchi was nothing of all this: he was a junkie, probably a dealer, a punk with a difficult and unpleasant character. This though gave no one the right to kill him. I think the movie fails dramatically in the end, when presenting this case as one of the thousands deaths in prison; Stefano Cucchi happened to die in prison but just because he was beaten to death after arrest by 2 cops.