Praise be to Strippoli, Riondino, and Feltri, along with the divine cinematography of Cristiano Di Nicola and the unnerving score of Federico Bisozzi and Davide Tomat, for firmly placing Italian horror back on the map with The Holy Boy (La Valle dei Sorrisi).
The pain and suffering we carry are just as significant as the pleasure and happiness in informing what it means to be human. It’s easy for us all to fall into the trap of believing that pain must somehow be exorcised from us so that we can live our lives fully. Yet, that sorrow or suffering is essential in shaping who we are, what we believe, and our moral compass. However, what if someone could remove that suffering with a mere hug? Taking away your pain and allowing you to be free, would it lead to happiness or an empty and dangerous void? These questions sit at the heart of writer-director Paolo Strippoli’s unnerving and atmospheric coming-of-age horror, The Holy Boy (La Valle dei Sorrisi).
The Alpine village of Remis has seen its fair share of tragedy, with a horrific train crash years before killing many and leaving others with deep, open wounds. Yet now the small town is a sanctuary of happiness, its past tragedy nothing more than a memory, its train station overgrown with ivy and weeds. It’s a place where people run to when attempting to escape their past, and for Sergio (Michele Riondino), a former judo champion, it’s a place where a new role as a substitute teacher could offer the healing he needs.
The past haunts Sergio, with his only escape being a whiskey bottle, which does little to alleviate the dreams that torment him. His anger consumes him, and his guilt is evident in his eyes. His volatile behaviour doesn’t go unnoticed among the students he now cares for, in a village that holds a secret he is about to uncover after a night of heavy drinking at the local bar run by Michela (Romana Maggiora Vergano).
The secret, hidden in plain sight, is a quiet fifteen-year-old boy whom Sergio has encountered at school, named Matteo Corbin, played brilliantly by newcomer Giulio Feltri. Matteo is an outcast, yet he is revered by the community around him, for Matteo possesses a power the village believes is derived from God. This quiet, controlled and subservient teenager has the power to take away your pain with a mere hug.
During the day, Matteo is isolated at school, with no friends, as his fellow students view him as a freak who their parents call a messiah. But at night, Matteo is an angel, managed and tightly controlled by the village priest, Don Attilio (Roberto Citran), and his father, Mauro (Paolo Pierobon), as villagers line up, waiting for the hug that brings them happiness. Matteo is a vessel for their pain, with each negative emotion he takes away from another stored within him. The hug creates a bond that allows him to see into their souls and, if desired, take over their bodies, viewing the world through their eyes. The only outward sign of his unique ‘talent’ is the wisps of grey hair that line his otherwise youthful face.
As Michela leads Sergio to Matteo, he is sceptical of the boy and his power. Still, Matteo’s hug soon changes that, as Sergio is suddenly freed from his torment, and a new life beckons—one where he can teach the kids of the small town Judo and move on from the horrors that once consumed him.
Matteo fascinates Sergio, but he also sees the pain that lies within the young boy, a pain that needs to be set free. He begins mentoring Matteo, meeting him when the village falls silent in the dead of the night at the old disused train station. There, he encourages Matteo to think for himself and step out of his dad’s and the local priest’s shadow. Sergio offers Matteo an escape, and it’s not long before the boy’s confidence grows, including his exploration of his sexuality and the crush he has had for a long time on a boy at school who relentlessly bullies him. But great power comes with significant risk, especially in the hands of a fifteen-year-old boy who the village sees as nothing more than a warehouse for their collective pain.
Personal and collective trauma, religious dogma and guilt drive the narrative of Strippoli’s film, with more than a few nods to Carrie (1976) and The Innocents (2021) in its atmosphere and underlying themes. However, there is also a clear homage to folk horror in Strippoli’s exploration of an isolated community founded on a religious dogma that sees a fifteen-year-old boy used without any consideration of his needs or wishes. It’s within the journey we take alongside Matteo that The Holy Boy (La Valle dei Sorrisi) finds its devastating voice, as we watch a boy consumed by a village that should protect him. Here, Giulio Feltri’s performance is captivating, heartbreaking and unnerving as he attempts to carve out his independence in a community that needs him but will never trust him.
Alongside fellow writers Milo Tissone and Jacopo Del Giudice, Strippoli’s closed community of false happiness is one in which contentment has become an addictive drug administered through a boy’s hug. Sergio not only sees how this drug has consumed the village, but he also understands how the need for it is consuming Matteo, eating away at him bit by bit, the inner boy screaming for release in a community that has been a prison since he was a toddler. However, Sergio is also now an addict, and as much as he wants to save the boy, he can’t go back and face the pain Matteo has lifted.
The Italian title, La Valle dei Sorrisi, directly translates to ‘The Valley Of Smiles’, but those smiles are denied to Matteo as he attempts to contain the suffering and grief of everyone around him. Fierce, formidable, and heartbreaking, Strippoli’s film is an atmospheric, absorbing, horrifying, and powerful exploration of the importance of sorrow in maintaining the delicate balance between our emotions, behaviours and beliefs. So, praise be to Strippoli, Riondino, and Feltri, along with the divine cinematography of Cristiano Di Nicola and the unnerving score of Federico Bisozzi and Davide Tomat, for firmly placing Italian horror back on the map with The Holy Boy (La Valle dei Sorrisi).
The Holy Boy (La Valle dei Sorrisi) is screening at BFI London Film Festival and is awaiting a UK-wide release date.
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