The Berlinale is upon us (February 6-16), and though I was disappointed that there was nothing Italian in competition, there will be some interesting Italian films screened.
Particularly interesting, a documentary called Felice Chi È Diverso from director Gianni Amelio, who said of it,
“Felice chi è diverso is a journey through a secret Italy, which rarely gets captured on film. It is homosexual Italy, from the 19th century, to the beginning of the next century to the 1980s…a journey made up of stories gathered from the northern and southern parts of the country, based on those who had to endure being different first-hand. Tales of repression, censorship, dignity and happiness.”
An older gay couple in a city in northern Italy talk about their decades-long relationship. A man describes how he was physically abused by his father because of his sexual identity. Another, who had a high-flying career, recounts a sexually fulfilled life and mentions numerous homosexual politicians. Gay men from across the social classes and regions of the country have their say and discuss the different conditions which determined gay life in Italy. Their stories recall isolation, discrimination, suffering and violence, but also reveal designs for a happy life. There is a discomfiting and controversial discrepancy between the reality of the individual accounts and the media coverage. The latter often portrays gay people with a discriminatory irony or is manipulating and vitriolic, especially where intellectuals are concerned. With Felice chi è diverso, Gianni Amelio relates a gay history of Italy since fascist times. His anthropological study becomes a cultural history of the country. His analysis of social conditions is both moving and enraging and refuses to allow the audience to remain indifferent.
The Berlinale is Berlin’s International Film Festival, one of the world’s leading film festivals held every year in Berlin, Germany. The 2012 Berlinale Golden Bear went to the Taviani Brothers’ Cesare Deve Morire.
I Love Italian Everything 