HUMAN CAPITAL (IL CAPITALE UMANO) World Cinema

The term “human capital” describes the criteria insurance companies use to determine an appropriate monetary value for the life of one human being. In this stylish murder mystery, which moves backward from a deadly bicycling accident, director Paolo Virzì explores class by looking at multiple sides of the same story. Two families, one wealthy and the other middle-class, are at first connected only by the relationship of their teenage children. But as ambition, greed and affairs of the heart come into play, the families’ fates become increasingly intertwined. As the story unfolds from three different viewpoints, secrets are revealed as each of the characters pursues security in the form of love or money. Based on the American novel of the same name, and swapping upper-crust Connecticut with the wealthy region of Brianza, HUMAN CAPITAL is Italy’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar®.