The film follows the build up to an annual and ancient horse race in the Italian city of Sienna. If, like me, you have no interest whatsoever in watching horses run round in a circle, don't worry, the film is really about the community and its infectious passion for this event.

We are introduced to the people at the same ambling pace at which life seems to take place in this city. Sienna is divided into several districts. The one you belong to is like the football team you support, only much more important. Babies have the local flag placed around their necks at baptism, like being given your football colours at birth.

We follow the inhabitants of one of the smaller districts, desperate to win after the shame of having lost for 25 years running. Their passion for the race is overwhelming, to the extent that, as the event draws near, no one seems able to talk about it without bursting into tears. The film, like the event, is more about the build up than the race itself, which only lasts for 80 seconds.

Some of the most interesting sections are those in which we get to see the shady deals which are made behind the scenes in an attempt to secure victory. A capitano is elected by each district to oversee preparations. Although no doubt upstanding pillars of the community, there is an inescapable air of the Mafia Don about these men, particularly when the camera catches them having furtive conversations with various jockeys and other capitanos, complete with emphatic hand gestures.

The result of all this persuasion and bribery is that the local capitano secures the services of the best jockey in town, who looks like a very small boxer, which is probably no coincidence, as this particular horse race is most definatly a contact sport.

Music is used sparsely but effectivly to build tension and it would be hard for the film not to look beautiful, with the winding, narrow streets of the medievil city as a backdrop. My one criticism would be that director John Appel does not probe deeper into the dodgy deals that seem to play such a big part in the race's outcome.

I found the film funny and moving. By the time the race takes place, I was feeling something of the nervous excitement which grips the city.

.