Bella Ciao - Giulia Giapponesi

 

Smart documentary on protest song that still rings true

Bella Ciao is a song that has become the Italian national anthem of protest - a chorus that rings around the world in times of adversity. From the mosques of Istanbul to the mountains of Chile, the song holds a special resonance to those who hold it dear.

The history of the song is as rich as the song's lasting appeal from a song of defiance to one used as the theme music to Netflix hit television show Money Heist. The film starts with a showing of the song being used around the world from Iran to Turkey and back to the homeland of Italy.

The film takes a long period telling the story of the Partisans, those who opposed fascism. Veterans speak of giving to their country for the freedom, and how the mistakes of having a sixteen year old fight in a war are being repeated around the world by insurgents and ongoing warfare. Yet these veterans speak of how they did not sing the song during the war, and it only became an anthem some 15 years after the conclusion of World War 2 by the youth movement and uprising in the Eastern bloc of late 1950s and early 60s - as a song for the masses.

The song was given a life of its own and its own mythology began to circulate in the 1960s and the film shows many stories from around the world expressing how the song came into their life and remains.

This documentary is as stirring as the song it lauds, giving life and reason to a song that has stood the test of modern warfare and an ever changing society. The film is indicative of how we express our identity through song and singing alike giving us a sense of belonging and unity.

Bella Ciao receives its UK premiere as part of the Cinecittà Italian Docs series at London's Bertha DocHouse on Sunday 25th June at 3.30pm with a Q&A with director Giulia Giapponesi.

A Steady Job (Il Posto) - Cinecitta Italia Docs

New documentary highlighting the plight of full time employment in Southern Italy, screening as part of  Cinecittà Italian Docs

A Steady Job (Il Posto) focuses on graduate nurses and healthcare workers in Italy who compete for just a few vacancies in their desperate search for job stability. Filmed largely before, but ultimately impacted by, the coronavirus pandemic, it provides a disturbing overview of the labour market in Italy – a portrait of a tragically broken system.

 

Filmed in the hand-held form focusing on those trying to find work for these graduates, travelling to job fairs on long journeys, the documentary has this unfortunate air of resignation about the downfall of government to give jobs in a vital industry.

As the film notes in the beginning, one in two adults in Southern Italy are unemployed and so they travel on coaches to these job markets in the hope of gaining employment abandoning family with dreams still in their hearts.

A telling scene is when the man who arranges the trips for these hopeful souls is driving home with his business partner and he stops saying is it worth it for him to do this anymore in this recrutiment industry - the weight of the world and the burden he feels weighs heavy upon his shoulders. This moment is shot as an excised scene from Michael Mann's The Insider.

The ending of the film which poses more questions than supplying answers for those seeking employment, shows the individuals walking zombie-like with a melancholic ethereal electronic score underneath - this is a generation of souls lost without a direction in this world.

Filmed largely before but ultimately more impacted by the global pandemic, this overview of the Italian health system is both sombre and tragic. This film grips the audience and becomes an alternative road movie of sorts.

A Steady Job (Il Posto) will have its UK Premier and screen as part of the Cinecitta Italian Docs season at London's Bertha DocHouse on Saturday 24th June with a Q&A with directors Mattia Colombo and Gianluca Mattarese