The fugitive godfather and the corrupt politician. The couple is one of those that explodes. And you expect it even if you don’t know the ending. Two eponymous heroes of certain miserable Italian stories. Two shady figures who perfectly photograph some situations that have hit the headlines in our country over and over again. In fact, the screenplay of «Iddu» was freely inspired by «Letters to Svetonio» (2008), a book that collects the epistolary exchanges that took place in the early 2000s between the fugitive mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro and the former mayor of Castelvetrano Antonino Vaccarino. In the cinematic fiction, the correspondence through the inevitable pizzini takes place between Matteo, a super-fugitive boss, and Catello Palumbo. The latter, a corrupt politician, just released from prison, where he ended up for mafia crimes, begins to collaborate with the secret services to help them discover the godfather’s hideout.
Presented in the Official Selection at the 81st edition of the Venice International Film Festivalthe film by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza represents the final chapter of the trilogy, which began with «Salvo» and continued with «Sicilian ghost story», and has the indisputable merit of telling the story with great courage. Because in these cases, the risk of beatifying the personification of evil is always around the corner. But no. The villains of the film remain villains. Bad and miserable. Mediocre and small. In their actions, in their baseness. Thanks to a well-crafted screenplay, of course, but also thanks to the two authentic stars who play the protagonists: Toni Servillo, as Catellothe corrupt politician who becomes a dwarf and a dancer, an acrobat manipulator of lies and truth, to play his last cards and get back into the business after prison has made him lose everything. And Elio Germano, truly immense in giving face, movements, appearance and perfect Sicilian accent to Matteo, the super fugitive. We met him…
They offer you the part of Matteo, a super fugitive. Maybe it’s a bit like trying your hand at a free theme. And then he gets caught! How did your interpretation change after you were able to see it, listen to it?
«Yes, the film starts from concrete, real and unfortunately also dramatically ridiculous facts. From the discovery of this strange language, of this union between what is ridiculous and what is tragic, and which appeared in the correspondence, to then construct a fictional story that opens up to symbols that concern us, a bit like in all works cinematic. The character that was proposed to me started from something concrete – that is, the little information that was known – and then continued with the construction functional to the narrative. As normally happens. You can make infinite films about the same person, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to remake Shakespeare or even the Greek tragedies in the theater. Because each time they can be interpreted from many different points of view.”
Mix up the plans. Good and Evil. Good and bad. Perhaps self-defense, an atavistic and involuntary feeling. Thus, everyone justifies himself and his crimes, even the most heinous…
«This reasoning of good and evil mixing is a lesson. And instead everyone always takes the side of good, that is, the bad guys are always the others. We are always ready to recognize what we don’t like or shouldn’t do in the actions of others. It is clear to underline that we are not good or bad, it is the acts we perform that can harm someone, cause pain and suffering, pleasure and satisfaction. It is our actions, not our genetics, that make us good or bad. In my opinion, the awareness of the fact that we are all capable of everything and therefore of magnificent things and of the most vile things, would help us to recognize evil and therefore prevent ourselves from committing vile things. Pointing the finger at aliens, monsters, Nazis, hasn’t helped us make them disappear.”
“Iddu” demonstrated, if ever there was still a need, that cinema can speak, tell stories of criminals without creating a myth. Of course, it’s not easy…
«Greek tragedy is full of characters who commit atrocious things and it is obvious that the narrative feeds on extreme events. It is easier to recognize evil when it manifests itself with a murder or to talk about the murderer’s evil rather than his more “human” nuances, because it is not the latter that are of interest. There is a paroxysm, an extremism of our drives. The fact that idolatry can be generated for the characters depicted is a problem not of art or cinema but of society. We live in a society where winning models are widespread which often coincide with those that are the winning models in the underworld, such as easy money with minimal effort. Then a teenager can recognize an example to follow in a boss.”
Tell us how you prepared to play Matteo…
«At the beginning it was the creation of a ghost, so I tried to think first of all about the “zoological” aspect of a recluse animal. Let’s say that the life I lead when I go on tour has brought me closer to this idea of a perennial hotel. Our job is to replace ourselves a little with the experience to be interpreted: if I have to be a carpenter I try to work with wood. Matteo refers a bit to Shakespearean characters, but perhaps it is no coincidence that I mention them because this idea of the hunger for power, of ambition is a strong theme of Shakespearean production. He is a kind of pathological narcissus obsessed with the fact that no one is up to him. And with this distance that separates him from being able to solve things, he is convinced that everything is going wrong and lives in constant complaint. The film is a story that winds between clean entrepreneurship, underground entrepreneurship and institutions, therefore it is the story of our country, it is not the story of the mafioso, it is a carousel of people, of human beings, of characters who each seek their own profit at the someone else’s expense.”
Today Elio Germano and Antonio Piazza will be in Milazzo and Messina to talk to the public: appointment in Milazzo at 6.30pm at The Screen Cinemas multiplex; in Messina at 8.15pm at the Apollo Multiplex and at 9.15pm at The Screen Cinemas in Tremestieri. The film will be released in theaters across Italy on Thursday and is produced by Indigo Film with Rai Cinema.