From 1973, when Berlinguer escaped an attack by the Bulgarian secret services in Sofia, through the victorious electoral campaigns of the PCI, the trips to Moscow, the newspaper covers up to the assassination in 1978 of the president of the Christian Democracy, Aldo Moro.
Andrea Segre's “Berlinguer. La grande ambizione” will be released in theaters on October 31st with Lucky Red, the opening film of the 19th edition of the Rome Film Fest in competition at "Progressive Cinema".
Only five years to tell the story of the politician from Sassari, the secretary of the largest communist party in Europe with 1.7 million voters. It is Elio Germano who brings back to life the theoretician of the historic compromise, the father of Eurocommunism, of the democratic path to socialism.
"I tried not to characterize him too much, to convey only a few details of Berlinguer. What I worked on was his particular proxemics, the inadequacy, the fatigue that his body showed, the weight of responsibility towards others and the absolute lack of attention towards externality ", says Germano in a press conference. For the actor, however, there is no parallel with today's politicians: "He put himself at the service of others, today we are all a series of individualistic monads. Let's stop thinking that it is the competition that gives happiness, but that instead sharing counts more ". And again Germano: "Today we always talk about leadership, but are we sure that the answer is in the leader? Berlinguer was only a secretary, something different. He was a man capable of disturbing silences also because he was able to listen to others, a person who truly felt responsible for the people he represented. Then when there was something to decide - he concludes - all the sections were consulted, even the smallest ones, there was truly a collective dimension".
Director Segre says instead : «I had this idea in my head for a long time then I read 'Gli ultimi giorni di Berlinguer' by Piero Ruzzante and it was exactly what I wanted to tell. That political season carried forward by a man voted by a third of Italians has nevertheless produced very important results. The meeting between DC and PCI for example allowed the birth of public health». What has happened today to those left-wing ideas? «One thing is certain: today in the world there is more clarity of perspective on the right while the left is certainly more disoriented».
The film's cast includes: Elena Radonicich (Letizia Laurenti), Paolo Pierobon (Giulio Andreotti), Roberto Citran (Aldo Moro), Andrea Pennacchi, Giorgio Tirabassi, Paolo Calabresi (Ugo Pecchioli), Francesco Acquaroli (Pietro Ingrao) and Fabrizia Sacchi (Nilde Iotti).
Cult phrase of the film - a Vivo film and Jolefilm production with Rai Cinema, in co-production with Tarantula and Agitprop - that of Antonio Gramsci which also inspired the title: «Usually we see the struggle of small ambitions, linked to individual private ends, against the great ambition, which is inseparable from the collective good».
(Unioneonline/D)