The Moon and the Bonfire

I found this curiously unsatisfying. While it was clearly attempting to work on more than one level, the only level which came across effectively for me was the obvious one of description of a period in Italian history and the way life was for the people in this poor mountainous southern area of Italy. I was not swept away by the imagery and the emotional drama, and was left with a strangely unaffecting depiction of a way of life, which was sad and despairing but somehow lacked resonance as being about real people. I did find the tone to be downbeat and hopeless???and effectively so???but did not feel engaged or moved.