Under The Sunlight

[kasche]

I'm aware I'm posting way more (too) often than usual, but there's something I wanted to talk about.

This is the first I'm writing a review for a movie I haven't seen yet. When I first thought of posting about it, it hadn't even been released. Not to mention that this is an Italian movie, and that I'm afraid it won't be seen anywhere but here. Last friday, Alla luce del sole (or Under the sunlight, as I roughly translated it) reached cinemas. It's based on a true story, on the life of Pino Puglisi. As I said already I haven't seen the film, yet, but I can tell you what I know of him.

Father Pino Puglisi was a priest, and he lived in Palermo, in Sicily. When in the fall of 1993 he was murdered, at first no one understood why. He was just a priest, he worked in suburbs, what had he done? Who had he wronged? Well, mostly he had done his work. The zones he had always lived in, Brancaccio, Settecannoli, had streets full of mud, sewers in the open air, children fell sick, under scabies and tuberculosis. And peddled heroin on behalf of a third party. Father Puglisi set up an aggregation centre, mostly for the kids, to try and get them out of there. It must have disturbed someone. Facts say that someone set the building on fire two times; and for two times, Father Puglisi started again. There are many thing that could be said about him. About how he was also called "Father Can", since he usually ate just a can of tuna or something similar, standing, to waste less time.

It was his birthday, when he died. The killers reached him in the night, on his way to home, when he was few steps from the door. Gaspare Spatuzza, one of them, later on said that when Father Puglisi turned around and saw them, saw the gun, he just said "I was expecting this." And then he smiled.

I don't remember all this from then, I learned about it later. The only fact I remember with clarity is Falcone and Borsellino's death, a year before. It was summer, we were on holiday, and I remember not being able to understand why my parents were so worked up about this, and feeling a bit guilty about it. On one hand, it's true, I was still little; on the other, there had been so many homicides that I couldn't imagine what made those two so much worse.

Now it's different. There hasn't been a bomb or a outrage in more than ten years, ever since 1994. This isn't a good sign, at all. They happen when there are conflicts, either internal or external; this quiet makes think that the hold on Sicily, on Italy, is just getting firmer.

Now, maybe, when I'll go to the cinema to see it, I won't even like it. (From the snippets I've seen, and considering that Luca Zingaretti - the actor who plays Puglisi's role - is a good actor (and actually seems an intelligent person when he's interviewed, which doesn't hurt), though, I think I will.) That's not the point, anyway. Paolo Borsellino said, more or less, "Talk about mafia. On newspapers, on the radio, with your neighbor, just talk about mafia." Silence has done too many damages already. This is why I ask you, if you'll have the chance, to go and see it, too.

Comments

[kasche.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, for reading and commenting. :)

Don't worry about not knowing about it.. sadly, most Italians don't, either. Or don't remember, which is as bad. There have been many people like him - too many, in fact. And yes, it's horrible.

I hope you'll have the chance to go.. and that you'll like it, too. :)