Italian beauty lost in the Australian outback

The identity question is central in the immigrant experience. Even more so for Italians. In Crialese’s Nuovomondo, the immigrant leaving for America wonders at the incredible amount of “strangers” he is going to share the journey from Sicily with. And when somebody reminds him that, after all, they are all Italians, he is very skeptical of this idea: “If you say so,” he says.

Being such a young nation, “invented” by intellectuals and romantic poets, Italy has always been a “foreign” concept to most of the starving illiterate from the remotest parts of the South and the Center of the boot. We should not be surprised by this skepticism. The Italian immigrant, far away from a weak national rhetoric, finds himself puzzled by his or her own existence. Who am I, who was I, who have I become?

Luigi Zampa was aware of this complex reality when he directed Bello onesto emigrato Australia sposerebbe compaesana illibata, at the beginning of the 1970s. The screening of the movie on Wednesday, August 15 at Casa Belvedere, in Staten Island, NY is a good opportunity to re-discover this often underestimated work of Zampa’s late production.

Starring Alberto Sordi in his fifties, when he gave us his most unique performances (I am thinking of Un borghese piccolo piccolo), and Claudia Cardinale, who will end up winning the David of Donatello for her acting, the movie tells the story of a middle aged and lonely Italian immigrant in Australia, Amedeo Battipaglia, suffering from epilepsy who, in order to get married, is forced to make an Italian girl, Carmela, come meet him. However, Amedeo, too worried that his physical appearance would scare away the girl, pretends to be a handsome friend of his.

It is thanks to this comedy of identity that Zampa takes us in a journey through the solitude and desperation of the expatriate. The two protagonists roam through the jungle, unable to recognize each other and themselves, each of them cheating the other with a fictional identity that both are unable to sustain. But while Amedeo’s tragedy lies into the loss of belonging (no country, no wife, no real friends), Carmela’s tragedy develops in front of us as she imagines to reach a freedom that will never be.

Some times the movie disappoints for the datedness of certain features (like many Italian movies of those years) and for a quickened ending, but if one is able to look beyond them, one finds little gems of poetry: the boring and desolated tango of hopeful guys, parrots in the forest, the maddened friend who has lost everything, and, finally, hope in the desert.

Zampa elevates the comedy into drama and the drama into comedy with such elegance and dignity that the movie breathes of a natural rhythm, thanks to the various characters and the improbable setting. Bello onesto… is a strong movie, one that deserves a special place in the history of Italian Cinema, a movie that gives us a unique perspective on the Italian immigrant experience. It invites us to re-look at that experience without prejudice and stereotype. And in a moment in which the Italian government is tempted to deny that experience, the movie acquires a deeper sense, a profound value.

The Summer of Frank

This is the cover of Zappa’s The Man from Utopia. This cover was drawn by the Italian comics artist Tanino Liberatore. It is collage of all the things that happened to Frank Zappa during his Italian tour. On the backcover there are scenes from the Palermo concert.

The short but intense documentary 1982. L’estate di Frank (1982. The Summer of Frank) by Silvio Cuccia, offers a triple perspective on the idea of belonging and identity. Cuccia was in the army when Frank Zappa toured Italy in 1982, and he decided to travel with his father all the way from Pordenone (North) to Palermo (South), his hometown, for Zappa’s last concert of the tour. But he could never reach the capital of Sicily in time for the show and a couple of months later his father would die and his life would change forever. The movie is, in some way, the attempt of reconnecting with something lost.

Massimo Bassoli, a journalist, instead, in the summer of 1982, as a dear friend of Frank Zappa, would be the one to assist the Italian-American rockstar/composer throughout the entire tour. Bassoli is the protagonist of Cuccia’s movie, by being the one to narrate a story of the past that will leave a mark in Italy’s music and social history, and in particular in the city of Palermo. Unfortunately, indeed, Zappa’s concert in Palermo will be mostly remembered for the riots that accompanied it. The concert was held in a stadium and the stage was positioned at the center of this stadium. The audience was sitting very far away from the stage and, therefore, when the concert started, many began to move towards the center of the stadium. It was at this point that the police attacked and the riot started. That concert only lasted about 20 minutes.
But apart from the bad events that characterized that concert, there was something else very different happening in those days: before the show, Bassoli took Frank Zappa in his father’s hometown, Partinico. In the movie, the journalist recalls that day in all its details, but Zappa’s visit to Partinico was very short. Maybe the times were different, and even if Zappa always felt a strong connection with Italy, it seems that this short trip was not a big deal for the musician. I am saying this, because it seems that he never talked about it to his children. And here comes the third perspective.The third perspective is that of Dweezil and Dana Zappa, brother and sister, Frank’s children, who decide to follow, through Bassoli’s help, their father’s route and visit Partinico. They are those who manage to “complete” the journey, by even finally meeting part of their Sicilian family. At the end of their trip Dana and Dweezil will receive the honorary citizenship from the mayor of Partinico, and are touched by the plans that the town has in order to maintain Zappa’s legacy alive.

The most interesting part of the documentary is the encounter of Dweezil and Dana with a different culture, which is, at the same time, part of their own identity. Their feelings are very similar to those of millions of Italian-American girls and boys who desire to get in contact with their heritage, their past, their deep identity.

You can watch the documentary on You Tube. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENYR4LkiYCg