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Gol!a

Name: Gol!a
Director: Roberto Marra, Stefano Salvatori
Released: 2023
Duration: 92 min

Representation Score

4.3/10

Fair

2023

Director

Roberto Marra, Stefano Salvatori

Runtime

92 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Gol!a is a character-driven drama that highlights the dignity of individuals with cognitive and physical disabilities while critiquing institutional authority. By centering the plot on a planned escape led by men with cognitive and physical impairments, the film avoids common clichés of passivity. It successfully portrays disability as a challenge to be navigated rather than a limiting condition. However, the film's diversity is unevenly represented. While it provides a deep look at the dignity of the elderly and the physically impaired, it lacks any clear information about racial, ethnic, or LGBTQ+ representation. The focus remains heavily on a specific type of male-driven struggle. Ultimately, the film's strength lies in its subversion of traditional masculinity and its rejection of the 'social worthlessness' often imposed by modern care structures. It is a powerful reclamation of ability to act for those underrepresented by age and illness.

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Category Breakdown

Does Gol!a have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film does not include any explicit references to LGBTQ+ characters or stories. There is no information about non-straight relationships or identities.

How does Gol!a portray gender?

Fair

The story challenges traditional masculinity by showing a former rugby player as someone with cognitive struggles. However, there are no strong roles for women in the main storyline.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Gol!a?

Minimal

There is no information about the racial and ethnic makeup of the cast, so it's impossible to assess the diversity or any potential whitewashing.

How does Gol!a represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film criticizes the dehumanizing effects of Western institutions by rejecting the idea that a person's value is tied to their economic or physical abilities.

Does Gol!a include disability representation?

Excellent

Characters with dementia and paraplegia are portrayed as active participants rather than passive recipients of care. The narrative focuses on their autonomy and reclaiming dignity.

Present on Screen

Highlights the ability to act of characters with cognitive and physical disabilities.
Challenges traditional masculine archetypes by emphasizing vulnerability and fragility.
Criticizes systemic dehumanization in modern care structures.

Limited or Absent

Does not provide visible representation of LGBTQ+ identities or narratives.
Lacks information about racial and ethnic diversity within the cast.
Shows a lack of women's ability to drive the story within the primary narrative structure.

Official Synopsis

Golia is a former rugby champion suffering from dementia. every day he wakes up convinced that he is still young and is away with his team, only to learn that he is living inside a nursing home and has lost all contact with his wife and children. alessandro, another guest of the nursing home, is a former professor of ancient literature suffering from paraplegia. alessandro has one last ambition left: to help golia break out of the nursing home and reunite him with his family, overcoming the defense lines of the institution’s mean-spirited staff and showing the institutions how senility and illness are not valid pretexts for defining the social worthlessness of man.

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