This is an autobiographical epic of three generations in the Sicilian village where Tornatore, director of Cinema Paradiso, was born. The film recounts life from 1920s to present day, through the eyes of two lovers. Touching upon the lives of the characters and their families, the film evokes the loves, dreams and disappointments of a community.
"From the magical realist opening to the operatic finale, everything in this ravishingly photographed scrapbook of sun-kissed memories and picture-postcard nostalgia is sweeping, involving, romantic and disarmingly sentimental."
Radio Times
"With Baaria, he (Tornatore) may well have outdone himself, rustling up a saga of small-town Sicily that bounces vigorously across the decades from the 1930s to the 1980s."
The Guardian