Lamerica

In the satirical Lamerica, two Italian hustlers arrive in post-Communist Albania to set up a phony shoe factory and pocket the government’s investment in economic relief.

To carry out the scheme, they need an Albanian at the head of the company, and they find their patsy in the form of an elderly Italian political prisoner who is utterly passive after years behind bars. When the old man escapes to the Albanian countryside, one of the young con men comes face-to-face with the extreme poverty of the country and the pervasive hope for a better life elsewhere that motivates immigrants. (116 mins., 35mm)