Dino Risi

According to Risi, Berlusconi was a ‘magnificent cinematographic character’, a ‘real’ monster compared to the little, daily monsters he portrayed in his omnibus film I mostri (1963), and later in I nuovi mostri (1977) which was co-directed with Mario Monicelli and Ettore Scola. He also lamented the attitude of Italian filmmakers, saying: “The Americans would already have done it.” He wondered why Italian cinema didn’t have the same courage to face contemporary reality. Risi accused them of only telling their own intimate stories, while there was such a wealth of themes at the time. He wondered why this was the case. Were they afraid of the power? Did they fear to be excluded? Did they want to be courtiers or did they really not see beyond themselves?

Risi’s statements in 2002 seem to underwrite the general idea behind the They Have a Dream: Political and civil passion between Italy and U.S.A. programme. The festival has tried to demonstrate how American Cinema has always been more successful in expressing political ideas in comparison to Italian Cinema. According to programmer Bruno Fornara the title of the programme actually should have been: “They (the USA) have a dream and we (Italy) don’t”.

Despite his earlier declaration of being too old, Risi confessed in 2005 to the Corriere della Sera to having written a treatment with the provisional title L’arrampicata in cui Berlusconi si riconosce lontano un miglio (which can be translated as: “You can see Berlusconi’s social climbing from the moon”). He proposed it to several producers, who all seemed to find it very funny, but in the end none were interested. Risi joked that the only solution would be if Berlusconi produced the film himself. But in fact it would only take a year for the first Italian movie about Berlusconi to arrive: Il Caimano, directed by Nanni Moretti. Which is actually also a film about the difficulties of making a film about Berlusconi. It was released just before the elections in 2006. Risi was very pleased with the film, in which he got mentioned twice.

Last year Dino Risi died at the age of 91. The Alba Festival is screening two of his most politically-oriented films; Una vita difficile (1961) and In nome del popolo italiano (1971). In the past he was not regarded as a very socially-committed filmmaker by the leftist intelligentsia, but actually Risi was a master in grasping the mood of the times, holding up a mirror to Italy by approaching serious and important issues with lightness and irony. Sharp social commentary was masked behind a characteristic bittersweet approach.

Shortly after the festival, Italian moviegoers will be able to go and watch in regular cinema’s a film by Enrico Oldoini that has been proclaimed the ‘third chapter’ to Risi’s omnibus films I mostri and I nuovi mostri (monsters today). Its title won’t be a surprise: I mostri oggi. In 17 episodes this ‘sequel’ will also parody the vices, fears and weaknesses of contemporary Italy. Its focus however will be on the social aspect and not on the political. Hence it won’t be very probable that one of Oldoini’s monsters is called Berlusconi. In any case, on the 27th of March one can find out if I mostri oggi matches its sharp predecessors.

Gerdien Smit