IL CAPITANO European Cinema: Tribute to Jan Troell

An austere but oddly powerful narrative of a young Finnish couple on a crime spree in Sweden that begins with minor burglaries and ends with a triple-murder. Based on a true story, the film has obvious echoes of the Manson killings, and Badlands. But Troell’s film, with its subtle analysis of the master/slave relationship, owes nothing to anything else. Its final horror lies in the witless, aimless nature of the crimes and in contemplating the disspiriting life that made the road and violence so attractive an alternative.-Charles Champlin