Last night I went to the Notte del Cinema event in my home town of Cesena. This is an enlightened cultural happening in which ten open air piazzas and public spaces are given over to a celebration of cinema with free screenings of movies old and new.
This was the highlight of the second edition of a week-long festival – Piazze di Cinema – and a very civilised way of spending a hot, sultry evening.
One of the positive aspects of living in Italy is that, unlike in Britain, outdoor events of this kind are rarely ruined by inclement weather.
The film I saw was all about finding other good things to say about the Italian way of life at a time when there is a mass exodus of those (mostly young) citizens who have had enough of the endless round of political scandals and economic mismanagement.
Italy, Love It Or Leave It is a documentary in the form of a road movie made by, and starring, two Italians Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi.
It is a lively and thought-provoking film in which these two travel the length and breadth of the country in a Fiat 500 in a quest to find the definitive answer to the question: ‘should I stay, or should I go?’
They touch upon the sex, lies and corruption of the Berlusconi years (how could they not?) but also look for less obvious examples of a country in crisis – a kind of exploration of Italy’s hidden reverse. Continue reading
