‘Yara’ is an Italian crime drama on Netflix following the assault and murder of a young girl and the subsequent investigation surrounding it. The film depicts a horrific story in detail, capturing the audience in various stages of a long and complex search for the missing victim, and later, with its killer. In the center is prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri, who continues to fight for the criminal despite intense pressure and criticism from politicians and the public.
In the end, the case is settled, or it seems, the defendant does not plead guilty. Dissatisfaction, the soft tone of the film only highlights the shocking nature of the case and how horrific the years-long investigation is. We decided to look at how much of the case seen in ‘Yara’ is based on a real story.
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Is Yara a Real Story?
Yes, ‘Yara’ is based on a real story. The film follows the tragic murder of Yara Gambirasio, a 13-year-old Italian girl, and an investigation that went on for years. The film faithfully portrays the events surrounding his disappearance on November 26, 2010, and a major investigation is underway to find him. The account also considers how the defendant was acquitted using genetic evidence and by making extensive genetic information to trace the identity of the victim. Writer Graziano Diana and director Marco Tullio Giordana keep the film’s tone balanced and basically insensitive, allowing events to speak for themselves with hurtful success.
As shown in the film, Yara Gambirasio was on his way home from the Brembate di Sopra Stadium in Bergamo on the night of November 26, 2010, but he did not get home, which was a long trip. Despite extensive searches involving hundreds of volunteers, it was more than three months before Yara’s body was found on February 26, 2011, in Chignolo d’Isola, about six miles [10 km] from the stadium. The wounds inflicted on the child, as well as details about the cause of his death, are also mentioned in the film.
The interrogation of the first suspect, who was later released as a result of a mistake made in translating his phone, and the discovery of a DNA-containing liquid in the victim’s clothing were all parts of the film’s narrative that accurately reflect what actually happened. A massive project involving the collection of genetic samples from nearly 22,000 people has resulted in this vast Italian DNA study, which eventually led to the arrest of 43-year-old Massimo Giuseppe Bossetti (then).
Perhaps one of the film’s most notable features – the intricate design of DNA evidence that led investigators to Bossetti’s mother, Ester Arzuffi, before they were able to locate her – is all true. So was the way a breathalyzer check was made to collect Bossetti’s DNA to confirm the evidence. He was finally arrested in June 2014.
Despite the fact that he was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison, some doubts have been raised as to the veracity of the DNA evidence against Bossetti. The absence of mitochondrial DNA in the sample has been marked as a red flag in the presented evidence. Defendant’s legal team also claimed to have access to “second-hand artifacts” such as clothing items from which the DNA sample was found. According to Bossetti’s lawyers Claudio Salvagni and Paolo Camporini, their applications were rejected three times. From 5 November 2021, they plan to appeal to the Supreme Court for the fourth time to access these artifacts.
As stated in Yara’s last words, Bossetti’s appeals were denied, and his sentence was repeated several times. However, when questioned, the defendants’ attorneys re-examined the image of the case at ‘Yara,’ claiming that the film was unreliable in the actual narrative and that the defense team had not been shown in its production. So, as it were, the film inspired by it is also constantly debated. For the most part, however, ‘Yara’ remains faithful to the (public) details of this remarkably painful case and presents the sequence with a clear eye lens.
