Without bothering Pirandello, a mask is often comfortable. Harmless. You can hang up the nice things and forget about it. Then, at a certain point, someone feels the need to go and see what’s behind it. Because a mask, in the end, is just a shortcut, a way to avoid dealing with the complexity of a face. This someone is Giorgio Verdelli, appreciated writer, director and screenwriter. And his «Rino Gaetano: Always bluer» begins right there: in the gesture of removing the mask and revealing Rino. A cultured and non-aligned artist, with crooked teeth and a straight gaze and back. But Verdelli was careful not to build a monument, he simply opened a room.
More and more blue” is presented not as a traditional biography but as a “journey” and a “multi-handed portrait”…
«Yes, I wrote it letting myself be guided by Rino’s intuition and voice. I listened to him on the radio, because that’s where the real Gaetano emerges: authentic, profound, capable of describing his way of writing, his inspirations and his relationship with the public. The construction of the documentary was born from a long and careful selection of this material. On the radio, Rino really gave the best of himself, while on TV he was often caged in light, jester-like roles. TV at the time was not ready for its complexity. This is why I chose to let his voice speak above all: to give the public a truer, more whole, deeper Rino Gaetano.”
In the documentary, an unreleased song, «A Film in Color – Jet Set» and private notebooks…
«There have been several exciting discoveries, but Rino Gaetano’s private notebooks were the most dazzling. Leafing through them means seeing the talent that already emerged when he was a seminarian: notes, ideas, fragments that even anticipate “But the sky is always bluer”. Finding them again was heartbreaking, and in the documentary this emotion comes through forcefully. Alongside the notebooks, however, it was decisive to listen to his voice on the radio: it is the key to the whole project.”
You met Rino Gaetano. How has this friendship influenced your gaze as a director?
«I believe that this proximity has greatly influenced my gaze. Because Rino was a voracious listener of music, a trait that is often ignored in stories about him. In the film, I wanted to bring out this side: musical preferences, intuitions, the way he absorbed very different genres and artists. For example, he was among the first to recognize the talent of Pino Daniele. He considered Enzo Jannacci a master, and Jannacci knew Rino well. Or his love for reggae and for Bob Marley that Rino sang when almost no one in Italy knew who he was.”
50 years after “But the sky is always bluer”, what makes the figure and music of Rino Gaetano so relevant and “necessary” today?
«You used a perfect word: necessary. Rino Gaetano is not only current today, he is truly necessary. For his unique ability to be irreverent towards power. Which doesn’t simply mean “against”. It’s easy to take sides against someone. Rino, on the other hand, was disrespectful towards everyone. Yet he managed to make people laugh and move at the same time. Only the greats can do this: I’m thinking of Paolo Conte. It is a quality that often does not emerge in stories about him. In the documentary I avoided indulging in conspiracy theories about his death. In order not to fuel inferences, but to return a poetic ending, leaving an open question to the viewer: who was Rino Gaetano really?
Is there a song that seems perfect to you to describe contemporary society?
«The song, I would say without hesitation “Nun te reggae più”. Just replace the names from back then with those from today: it works perfectly. Lucid and ruthless piece, still perfect for reading the present. My favorite phrase is in “Sfiorivano le viole”, when at the end, in a brilliant way, Rino writes: “Michele Novaro meets Mameli and together they write a song that is still in fashion”. There is his pure genius there. He wrote it long before the revaluation of the Mameli Hymn.”
What is the most surprising or unexpected aspect that emerged during the making that the public perhaps doesn’t know?
«The public often ignores how cultured he was. Because in interviews at the time he was often made fun of when he quoted Mayakovsky or other literary references, dismissing it as a game of nonsense. It wasn’t like that. There is a splendid interview with Enzo Siciliano, a fine intellectual, in which he openly says that he is an admirer of Rino and claims that there is much more to his songs than a series of titles strung together or simple parodies. A depth that today, finally, some are starting to recognize. Even Treccani who recently highlighted that very interview. But allow me to say it: we have done this rereading work before, and we are happy to have contributed to this new awareness. Then there is another aspect that I cared about: the connection with Calabria. The film was made with the Calabria Film Commission and, by artistic choice, I wanted to bring together all the great contemporary Calabrian artists in the documentary. In addition to Rino and Sergio Cammariere, his cousin, there is Peppe Voltarelli, an extraordinary artist and also a notable actor and filmmaker, and then Brunori. For the first time, these three worlds meet in the same project. And I add Tommaso Labate, who is not a casual presence: he is part of a precise narrative plan. All this serves to tell a richer, more complex, truer Rino than we have seen so far.”
«Rino Gaetano: Always more blue» will be at the cinema from 24 to 26 November, and will have two previews in Calabria, on Sunday 23 November, at 6pm, at the Citrigno cinema in Cosenza, and at 8pm at The Space multiplex in Lamezia Terme.