Human capital: (n.) the intellectual, emotional, and motivational skills possessed by an individual that determines their capacity and value to society or an organization.
Most often, film titles are straight forward and honest. You can absolutely tell while watching a movie why it was named what it was, and sometimes the title doesn’t add any deeper meaning to the film whatsoever. “Il capitale umano” (“Human Capital”), an Italian neo-noir film by Paolo Virzi, and based off the American book by Stephen Amidon, unquestionably revolves around its name, and rightly so.
The film revolves around four chapters, or “capitals”, in which it explores the thrilling interweaving of two families from two distinct social standings. It begins with a cyclist being hit off the road, and the stories, told in different streams, follow, revolving around the fate of the families and the cyclist. Each character in each chapter are intriguing and developed, really aiding the relationships that develop.
But, unlike many stories that are told in chapters, there are no holes in “Human Capital”. The stories are held together by the same events, just told by different people – of different ages – of different families. There really is no other way to tell this story.
To be able to completely appreciate “Human Capital”, the viewer can’t know much more than this. Any insight into the characters intentions and the events would completely give away the dramatic and ironic conclusion.
“Human Capital” was recently selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards. It beat last year’s Oscar-winner “The Great Beauty” at the 59th David di Donatello Awards (The Academy for Italian Cinema) for best film, so expect to see it making some waves.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film, presented by the Worldviews Film Series at the 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival at the Oriental Theatre on Sept. 26. The audience’s reactions to the folding and mixing of the stories, combined with laughs that occurred at the end of the film created a lasting experience.
“Human Capital” is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray and will be playing again at Fox-Bay Cinema on Wednesday, Oct. 1 and at Times Cinema on Wednesday, Oct. 8 as a continuation of the World Views Film Series.