In 2015 a film that rocked the Cannes Film festival was shown, much to critical and audience claim. Most of this claim comes from its hauntingly beautiful realistic tale of migration from Burkina Faso, and the rising up as immigrants. The two main characters who come from Burkina Faso, experience the immigrate life in many different ways, but when a riot explodes for better treatment for migrates coming to Southern Italy, the two friends are torn on where their future will take them.
My last two blog posts have to do with the origins and stylings of Neorealism in Italian film and what these aesthetics mean in a deeper and more critical sense for Italy’s citizens. This blog post is a perfect conclusion, not just for my own blog, but a happy reminder that this genre is still extremely influential for filmmakers today, and Rossellini would be proud of where it has gone!
I digress, in our reading for this week, we were asked to read the interview with the director of Mediterranea, Jonas Carpignano. Carpignano is the son of an African-American, and Southern Italian, which helped him observe a different world in Southern Italy than a full Italian would. He also said to the interviewer that his observations in his Southern town fueled his desire to resist closing the borders to immigrants fleeing their country, by creating this film.
The first example of Neorealism style is the obvious use of real world politics/issues thrusted into the main plotline, a plot that looks at issues many immigrants in Southern Italy face, not only when they are crossing, but also when they settle down in Italy.
Jonas mentions that he uses mostly immigrant and “99% southern Italian actors”, this is a great way to capture the authentic feel of what living in this town would be like for an actual immigrant. What creates a better argument that this film is part of the Neorealism revival, is how its dramatic flair is created through raw and realistic scenarios. The two paths that both friends go down after arriving to southern Italy is true for any immigrants that come to another country to hopefully prosper. The sparkle and shine fade away as they try and fail to create a life in their new country, which reminds us that the state is not perfect in any country no matter how much we might like to believe it is.
The Neorealism productions of the 20th century is a staple of Italian culture and film, however in Jonas’ mind, it is different. He states that the production team was always in communication from the very beginning, even though we had two distinct phases of production. He says that this film was never thought of as “global”.
It is clear that Jonas used certain aspects of Neorealism to combat a huge problem in Southern Italy, and Burkina Faso. However, this film extremely important to him, which the last three weeks have shown me, is the heart of this genre of film begins and ends with the filmmaker. If there is no passion to create, and project your vision, than that vision is not meant to be created.