A different story of the mafia, far from stereotypes and surprisingly intimate, in “Iddu – The Last Godfather” by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza from Palermo, in the official competition for the Golden Lion. Third work of the two directors after the acclaimed “Salvo” and “Sicilian Ghost Story”, it tells a paradoxical story set in Sicily in 2004 – reconstructed between Selinunte, Salemi and Sciacca – and freely inspired by reading some notes from the boss Matteo Messina Denaro. Conceived before his arrest, the film is based on an exchange of letters from which emerges a portrait of the man different from the one given to the community.
«Matteo Messina Denaro’s study began a few years ago and it was quite complex – said director Grassadonia – because this figure has been underestimated for a long time. We came across a correspondence between Matteo Messina Denaro and a former mayor of Castelvetrano, his hometown, developed between 2004 and 2006 by the Secret Services with the aim of finding his traces and capturing him». An unusual correspondence, in which the two directors have identified the seed of a possible story for the big screen.
«It’s about ten letters. in which, beyond the few lines in which business and interests were discussed, the boss dwelt on himself, on existential reflections, and little by little the psychological portrait of this strange and infantile narcissist emerged, as well as the personality of the mayor, the father’s political arm in the territory. The portrait of Messina Denaro was far from some stereotypes linked to the figure of the mafia, and this mayor seemed to embody the quintessence of a certain type of mask of Italian comedy».
Among the peculiarities of Messina Denaro is the particular relationship with women: «We are used to mafiosi house and church – added director Piazza – ; he has never married, and his relationship with women in the film indirectly enters as a reason for conflict between him and his father (especially with respect to Lucia Russo, played by Barbora Bobulova, a female figure from Matteo’s past), steeped in a pathological patriarchy with sickly fruits». A film therefore in which the intimate and personal side of the boss is predominant compared to other elements of the story: «The human aspect comes out from the notes, from the form of writing – added his interpreter Elio Germano – because he changed the register of writing depending on the people he was talking to. With this display of culture he intended to demonstrate that he was superior to others; a pathology of all Italians and of the characters in this story, who feel better than others and believe they have more rights than others».
The arrest of the boss then provided the actor with further elements of knowledge: «With his arrest, disturbing and interesting elements for my work emerged from the recordings. I discovered a person capable of sweetness, sensitivity and able to communicate a certain ethic; and this is disturbing because each of us could become a person like that: we just need to replace the values we believe in with different ones». Catello Palumbo, the recipient of the boss’s confidences, played by Toni Servillo, is caricatural: «The character gives the film a grotesque quality – the actor clarified –. He is an acrobat besieged by desperation, who uses the tools of a provincial headmaster culture, baroque, of a small local administrator, to accept this risk, to put right his condition as a man who has come out of prison, making a deal with the secret service apparatus for the capture of Matteo Messina Denaro».
The cast also includes Antonia Truppo, Tommaso Ragno, the actress from Reggio Emilia Daniela Marra, the Palermo natives Giuseppe Tantillo and Fausto Russo Alesi, the Jatino Filippo Luna and the Messina native Maurizio Marchetti. Music by the singer-songwriter from Solarino (Siracusa) Colapesce. Italian-French co-production made by Indigo Film with Rai Cinema and Les Films du Losange, “Iddu – The Last Godfather” will be in theaters from October 10 with 01 Distribution. Today the film will receive two collateral awards in Venice: the Carlo Lizzani for best Italian film and the Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award.