I'm Not Scared recap

During the summer of 1978, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano discovers a chained boy hidden in a hole near an abandoned farmhouse outside his tiny Italian village. He secretly brings the captive food and water and learns that he is Filippo Carducci, a kidnapped child from Milan. Television reports and overheard conversations reveal that Michele's father Pino and other local adults are the kidnappers, directed by the visiting Sergio Materia. Michele's friend Salvatore betrays the secret, and Felice Natale catches Michele visiting Filippo, after which Pino orders his son to stay away. When the adults decide Filippo must be killed, Michele runs to the new hiding place and frees him. Pino arrives to carry out the murder and accidentally shoots Michele in the darkness. As police close in by helicopter, Pino recognizes his wounded son and tries to save him. Filippo escapes, while Michele's survival is left unresolved.

In the parched summer of 1978, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano roams the countryside around Acqua Traverse with his younger sister Maria and a group of village children. Their leader, Antonio, known as Skull, imposes a humiliating penalty on Barbara after a race. Michele takes the penalty for her and climbs through a derelict farmhouse. Returning to retrieve his sister's lost glasses, he discovers a concealed pit nearby. At first he thinks the filthy shape inside may be a corpse, but he realizes it is a living boy. The child is weak, confused, and chained by the ankle. Michele tells no adult. His imagination supplies supernatural explanations, yet the chain and the boy's condition point to deliberate imprisonment. He begins returning alone, caught between fear of the place and concern for the captive.

Michele brings water and food to the hidden boy and cautiously speaks with him. The captive gives his name as Filippo and is so disoriented that he sometimes doubts whether he or Michele is real. At home, Michele's truck-driver father Pino returns, accompanied by Sergio Materia, an unpleasant visitor from northern Italy who takes over Michele's room. The adults' guarded meetings and Sergio's authority make the household tense. Michele sees a television report about a boy kidnapped from a wealthy Milan family and recognizes Filippo. The report includes the kidnappers' threats and the family's appeal for his release. Michele now understands that the prisoner is neither a monster nor an abandoned child: he is the victim of a crime whose perpetrators must be close enough to tend and guard him.

Clues in the adults' conversations force Michele toward a more painful conclusion. Pino, Sergio, and other people from Acqua Traverse are involved in Filippo's kidnapping. Michele nevertheless continues visiting and tries to comfort Filippo with food, talk, and promises. He confides in his friend Salvatore, who trades the information to Skull in return for a coveted driving lesson. Skull's older brother Felice catches Michele at the hiding place and handles him violently. When the betrayal reaches the adults, Pino confronts his son and makes him swear never to go back. Michele obeys outwardly, but his trust in his father has been broken. The village that once seemed merely isolated now appears organized around a secret in which familiar adults share responsibility.

The kidnappers move Filippo after Michele's visits expose the original hiding place. Michele is frightened of his father and of Felice, but he remains preoccupied with the captive boy. By listening to an adult meeting, he learns that the police pressure is increasing and that Sergio believes Filippo should be killed to remove the evidence. The group draws lots or otherwise assigns the killing, and the responsibility falls to Pino. Michele can no longer preserve any belief that his father is only marginally involved. With no adult he can safely ask for help and little time before the planned murder, he decides to break his promise and find Filippo himself.

Michele leaves home at night and locates Filippo in a new concealed place. He removes the restraint and helps the exhausted boy climb toward freedom, refusing to save himself first. Filippo gets away, but Michele is still near the opening when Pino arrives to carry out the killing. Seeing movement in the darkness and believing it to be the captive, Pino fires and hits Michele. He immediately recognizes his son, gathers him up, and desperately calls for help. A helicopter and armed authorities descend as the kidnapping scheme collapses. Michele has succeeded in freeing Filippo, but he is gravely wounded by the father whose crime he tried to undo. The ending does not confirm Michele's recovery; it leaves him in Pino's arms as the police arrive, with the child's physical fate uncertain and his former faith in the adults irreparably lost.

Michele overhears the kidnappers decide that Filippo must be killed and learns that his own father has been chosen to do it. He slips out at night, finds Filippo at a new hiding place, and frees him, insisting that the exhausted boy escape first. Michele is still emerging when Pino arrives with a gun and, unable to identify the figure in the darkness, shoots his son. Realizing what he has done, Pino carries the wounded Michele and calls for help. A helicopter and armed authorities arrive as the kidnapping collapses. Michele's attempt to rescue Filippo succeeds, but the book ends with him badly wounded in his father's arms and with the moral order of his childhood destroyed: the father he trusted was part of the crime, yet that same father is desperately trying to save him.