I already focused in a previous post on Guzzanti's film dedicated to what happened in L'Aquila after last year's earthquake destroyed most of the town, but I feel that a follow up is due especially after what happened in the last few days.
The Italian Minister of (Dictatorial, Totalitarian and Fascist) Culture Sandro Bondi stated he won’t be in Cannes to represent the Italian government to protest against the fact that Draquila was included in the Cannes programme (Special Screenings section).
According to Bondi, Draquila offends Italy, the Italian population and truth and it’s also a propaganda film.
Bondi’s complaints followed the Italian Minister for Tourism Michela Vittoria Brambilla's.
The minister recently announced she will first watch the documentary and then, in case it's needed, sue it for damages against Italy, while Guido Bertolaso, head of the Civil Protection, stated the film discredits the work of the organisation he directs.
Now, Bondi, dear, do you realise that it’s hard to judge what can truly offend the Italian population in a country where random daily sex and corruption
scandals are rife, in a nation that is currently following the developments of a major scandal involving politicians and members of the clergy, businessman Diego Anemone and former head of the state public works office Angelo Balducci arrested in a corruption probe over public tenders for the construction of state venues?
Bondi, why don't you ask Italian citizens if they are more offended by Draquila or by Minister Claudio Scajola announcing his resignation last Tuesday after the media revealed he had been covering up the real price paid for his 180-square metre Rome apartment overlooking the Coliseum, allegedly bought with the help of Anemone? (well, Scajola is currently not too sure who bought his house for him, so a group of kind Italians founded a Facebook page to give him a hand inding who "helped" him buying the house where he's currently living…)
I'm obviously much more offended by the Italian government and by its behaviour than by Guzzanti's film (and, note, I'm from Abruzzo, so I should even be more offended if the film would cast a bad light on the region I was born in).
Besides, propaganda? Well, propaganda is what Berlusconi did with L’Aquila after the earthquake happened, including moving the bloody G8 from Sardinia to Abruzzo.
If you had watched the L'Aquila G8 images on a black and white TV and had imagined all the politicians featured in those images clad in fascist uniforms, it would have been difficult to distinguish between a vintage Duce documentary shot during the fascist regime and a modern event taking place in the first decade of the 2000s. That was propaganda, not Draquila.
Guzzanti’s film is an investigation of what went on after the earthquake in L’Aquila, with Sabina starring here and there dressed up as Berlusconi, walking around the debris of the city centre in L’Aquila like a scheming puppet master.
The film tries to discover through footage shot after the earthquake and interviews, the truth behind the lies told by many national and international means of communications.
It’s indeed undeniable that Berlusconi, Bertolaso & Co. used the debris like the conceptual background for a disgusting show to gain more votes and make money.
Berlusconi claims
miracles happened n L’Aquila thanks to the Italian government.
Well, a genuine miracle would have seen
the entire town resurrecting, the debris disappearing and life coming
back in its streets.
How can you talk of miracles when there are still relatives of the earthquake victims waiting for trials against the people held responsible of some of the building collapsing?
I'm sure nobody will miss Bondi in Cannes, but I would like to remember him, Brambilla and Bertolaso that a docufilm is not a promotional tourism trailer and that, if there is somebody who is truly discrediting Italy, that's the Italian government, a seedy place full of criminals, Mafiosi, prostitutes, psychos and psychophants.
I would suggest Bondi to stop criticising people who are making genuine efforts to create thought-provoking films and documentaries and maybe attack those films made recycling dirty money like the ones produced by the Erretifilm society, a production company owned by the wives of Balducci and Anemone that mainly releases films starring Balducci’s son (excuse me while I vomit…).
Many years ago when Vittorio De Sica’s Umberto D was released (the film tells the story of a pensioner attempting to commit suicide after struggling to live with his pension in post-War Italy), Giulio Andreotti, who was at the time Under-Secretary for Culture and arch-enemy of Neorealist cinema (because it showed too many things the government was trying to hide…), attacked the film because it portrayed Italy under a negative light.
Over 50 years have passed since then and now it's Guzzanti's film to be attacked.
I have a suggestion for the entire Italian government: watch two or three times in a row Pasolini’s Salò to understand the disgusting and dehumanising effects power can have on human beings, because they are on the way to turn into the four fascist dignitaries of Pasolini's film.
I also have a suggestion for Italian directors: let's just forget about more docufilms and focus instead on shooting "B&B (Berlusconi & Bondi) against Draquila", a third rate movie involving lots of thirsty vampires, culture zombies and corrupt fascist monsters. I'm sure that would be a hit.
Jokes aside, I just hope Draquila gets a standing ovation in Cannes, it simply deserves it.
Draquila will be screened on 13th May at 8pm in Cannes.
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