Why do they want to kill you?
At 15, Lesia (Ghjuvanna Benedetti) is still daddys girl.
You dont talk to these kinds of people, her father shrugs.
‘The Kingdom’Metrograph Pictures
You wouldnt want to talk to him either, not without an invitation.
They have to defend their turf.
Every murder must be answered with revenge, served not cold but very, very hot indeed.
Were all afraid, her father replies, With the lives we lead, we breathe fear.
Thats what keeps us alive.
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Relying on first-timers could have shortchanged the drama.
This is the full-bodied tale of a love that is constantly thwarted and ultimately doomed.
This cannot happen; she will never have her fantasy family life.
She is the only girl in a house milling with tough middle-aged men.
She can help, she insists.
Of course, she is still a child; she is excluded.
Like her, we learn who has been killed from frequent flashes of TV news.
The Vietnam War was described as the first TV war, but this is TV crime.
The murders are never in your face we dont get long bloodbaths but theyarein the lounge room.
But, despite its pace,The Kingdomdoesnt feel like the thriller it resembles.
It feels like epic drama.
There are a great many films about the mafia.
Many of them are concerned with family, but few have this depth of feeling.
Afterwards, whats most striking is that Lesia has never blamed her father for the life he leads.
These things are fated.
At that point, it feels more like classical tragedy than ever.
