Silvio and his other high school buddies have typical adolescent issues of puberty—parent troubles, bullies, girls, and the desire to lose their virginity. But when Silvio kisses a student named Valentina in a closet at school, word soon gets out…to the entire school, including Valentina's jealous boyfriend. But all this is just kids' stuff compared to the sometimes violent student rebellion taking place at Silvio's school.

From the perspective of anyone who grew up on funny or bittersweet films of teen turmoil, this will immediately draw you in, because it starts off feeling like one of those. But it takes matters much more seriously, not reveling in teen sexploitation goodness. While it does delve into simple cliques of preps, punks, etc., it does so on a much more complex level, paralleling each stereotype to a particular political group—conservatives, fascists, etc. It becomes very easy, as an entertainment and escape seeking American, to get glassy-eyed during some of this heavy-handed stuff. I know I did, although I tried to stay with it, because it was well done. This film about the loss of innocence can either be watched for its more simplistic storyline, or appreciated for applying very adult issues to young lives.

The DVD

Video:
Aspect ratio: 1:85:1, letterbox. This is a wonderful visual experience. Rich color, natural tints, dark blacks, sharp, crisp edges, excellent depth, and a virtually flawless print.

Sound:
2.0 stereo or 5.1 surround—in 5.1 surround, the first glaring issue is the bass. It creates an annoying grumble of sound throughout the film. I opted to turn off my subwoofer because it was so distracting. The dialogue is rather low. The left/right separation is clean, but the rear sound is subtle and never exploited to impress.

Extras:
English subtitles are optional. Yellow subtitles make for hard reading on occasional light backgrounds. There are 20 chapter breaks from which to chose. Coming attractions include previews for: 15, The Great Water, The Holy Child.

Final Thoughts:
But Forever in My Mind is an Italian drama about a day in the life of a young teen looking to burst into manhood, approaching it from two tried and true perspectives: sex and violence. It's a much more serious take on the "rebellious teen" film than we are used to in the U.S., but it's still likely to catch your interest.