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Shooting the Moon

Name: Shooting the Moon
Director: Francesca Archibugi
Released: 1998
Duration: 105 min

Representation Score

7.2/10

Good

1998

Director

Francesca Archibugi

Runtime

105 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Francesca Archibugi’s drama dismantles the traditional nuclear family, offering a raw portrayal of domestic instability and systemic failure. The film excels in depicting characters on the margins of social norms without relying on exploitative clichés. However, the film’s narrow demographic focus limits its scope. The absence of racial diversity and explicit LGBTQ+ representation confines the narrative to a specific, homogeneous social context. Ultimately, the work provides a nuanced examination of vulnerability, trading conventional social hierarchies for a character-driven exploration of how children cope with adult addiction and institutional indifference.

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Category Breakdown

Does Shooting the Moon have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film centers on a domestic crisis involving an adolescent and his family, without explicitly depicting non-straight relationships or same-sex intimacy.

How does Shooting the Moon portray gender?

Fair

It challenges traditional gender roles by highlighting female survival instincts and emotional labor, while questioning masculine authority.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Shooting the Moon?

Limited

The movie reflects a relatively uniform Italian society, with no notable racial diversity or actors of different backgrounds in the main cast.

How does Shooting the Moon represent religion and culture?

Good

The story critiques traditional institutions and the idealized nuclear family by using a medical bureaucracy journey to show systemic coldness and domestic instability.

Does Shooting the Moon include disability representation?

Good

Themes of neurodivergence and mental health are explored through Siddharta’s unusual maturity. The film also highlights a child's proactive response to illness.

Present on Screen

Highlights female vulnerability and survival instincts in challenging traditional gender roles.
Offers a non-judgmental look at characters living on the social margins.
Critiques the coldness of medical and social bureaucracies.

Limited or Absent

Lacks significant racial and ethnic diversity in the main cast.
Does not include explicit LGBTQ+ identities or intimacy.
Focuses on a relatively homogeneous Italian social setting.

Official Synopsis

14-year-old Siddharta, wise beyond his age, has to deal every day with his heroin-addict mother Silvia and an absent father. One day, his four-year-old sister Domitilla accidentally pricks her finger on one of Silvia's used needles without her noticing. Seeking advice on the Internet, Siddharta is told to have her tested for hepatitis and AIDS. Thus he embarks on a odyssey of medical bureaucracy and both kind and uncaring adults.

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