Screening as part of the Second Italian Doc House season at Bertha Doc House
A collaboration between contemporaries, screenwriter Valentina Cicogna and director Mattia Colombo; this true crime documentary stars protagonist and forensic pathologist Cristina Cattaneo; who is portrayed as a fiercely passionate activist for the dead.
Working in Milan and administering autopsies to those who have passed on; Cattaneo is a unique person with a singluar voice. As she works, many bodies arrive with no identification or name - from the homeless, to the young and old, to migrants who seek a better life and die tragically in the sea.
Cattaneo and her team are stringent in the belief that all people deserve the right to a burial no matter who that person may be and what life they may have led. The lack of dignity to some dead is startling as the people who may have known these unknown people adds to the grief, even more startling is the faith that the grieving put in a television show over the police in the search for answers.
Much like Colombo's last film A Steady Job (screened at first Italian Doc House), this is a document to a time that is changing amidst a global pandemic. Cattaneo wears a mask in her work but due to the crisis, she and everyone she encounters is wearing a mask all except those she treats in death.
The engaging character of Cattaneo is one that keeps you involved with the film that is as concise and precise as the doctor. Shot with clarity and accomplishment, this film serves as a reminder that life is too short and no matter how it ends, respectfully the life should be cherished in its conclusion. There is a care and attentiveness required for the dead that we have lost in the land of the living - Cattaneo strains to make that point clear to her peers and students.
Special mention to the music by Zeno Gabaglio which offers a touching sombre piece to this sensitive topic which handles its subject matter with such dignity.
Pure Unknown screens at BerthaDocHouse on Saturday 27th January 3pm with a filmmaker Q&A afterwards.
My thanks to Stuart Haggas for the review opporunity.
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