The Life Ahead (2020)

There's a scene around the 30-minute mark where Sophia Loren is sitting in the rain, completely petrified, looking like she is there but she also isn't there. The kids are making faces and laughing to get a reaction from her, but she doesn't bat an eye. Her still facial expression, however, delivers tremendous grief and pain, and it's beyond heartbreaking. That's when I knew Edoardo Ponti's latest film, The Life Ahead (Italian: La vita davanti a se), would end up being one of my favourite of the year. 

Set in the seaside city of Bari, Italy, The Life Ahead tells the story of a young Senegalese Muslim boy name Mohamed, shortened to Momo (Ibrahima Gueye). An orphan with a bad upbringing, one day Momo robs two silver candlesticks from an old lady at the market. After being unable to sell them, Momo brings the stolen goods back to Dr. Coen's (Renato Carpentieri) home, his current caretaker, who soon finds out and forces Momo to apologize to the old lady who turns out to be not only a patient but also an old friend of Dr. Coen's, Madame Rosa (Sophia Loren). 

A Holocaust survivor who wound up walking the streets and now takes care of the kids of other prostitutes, Madame Rosa eventually agrees to take in Momo after the insistence of Dr. Coen in an attempt to provide the boy with the structure and love he needs. As expected, after a very rocky start, an unlikely friendship forms between Momo and Madame Rosa. 

Based on Romain Gary's novel of the same name, the film tells a very heartfelt and touching story of love, friendship, family and tolerance, a story that plays with the strings of your hearts without being overly sentimental. It is the kind of story that shows that you don't have to be related to be family, that accepting and respecting one another is what truly makes a family. 

It's not the story, however, the most important aspect of the film but rather the beautiful relationship between Momo and Madame Rosa. It is a relationship centred on their traumatic childhoods. Despite the many years that separate one from the other, both have experienced traumatic events in their youth — Momo lost his mother at the hands of his father; Rosa, as dementia is taking over her mind, is more than ever haunted by the horrors of the Holocaust — and it’s the grief and pain they are both carrying around that makes them form an incredibly strong bond. They don’t even need to talk things out to understand each other. 

The acting is also terrific. While Sophia Loren gives an unsurprisingly good performance as Madame Rosa, a grumpy old lady with a heart of gold, it’s Ibrahima Gueye that absolutely steals the scene. The young actor perfectly embodies Momo, a young boy who is angry at the world and is putting up a barrier and tough act to protect himself from getting hurt. In addition, Loren and Gueye share such beautiful chemistry, and every single glance they exchange is meaningful and moving. 

Sure, the development concerning both characters and the relationship between Momo and Rosa could have been less rushed, but at least The Life Ahead doesn't drag nor becomes tedious because of an overlong runtime, and ultimately it is a charming film with a lot of heart and sequences that you won't forget, like the one I mentioned at the beginning and the many tender moments Momo and Rosa share.