Nella terra di mezzo: cinema e immigrazione in Italia 1990–2010 by Giancarla Vanoli

Abstract

MLR, .,   homage to Franca Rame in her own staging of Mary at the Cross at the end of her play Passione. Dario Fo’s role at the origin of teatro di narrazione has been widely discussed, beginning with Simone Soriani’s  article ‘Dario Fo, il teatro di narrazione, la nuova performance epica: per una genealogia di un “quasi-genere”’, Forum Italicum ,  (), –, as well as in his  book Sulla scena del racconto (Genoa: Zona). Nor is the function of Fo’s relationship with the audience new, having been investigated by Scuderi himself in several articles and books. Rather, the original contribution of this collection is that it both looks back at the roots of Fo’s theatrical activity and looks forward by discussing his legacy as a consummate playwright and performer. Will the theatre of Dario Fo and Franca Rame—its political engagement and popular roots—maintain its relevance even aer their death? e essays contained in this volume indicate that it will. U  A D C Nella terra di mezzo: cinema e immigrazione in Italia –. By G V. (Linee) Milan: Meltemi. .  pp. €. ISBN ––– –. In her insightful study, Giancarla Vanoli sets out to investigate the fertile intersection between Italian cinema and the theme of immigration from  to , years in which the style and format of immigration films were first shaped. While this study follows the lines of previous Italian essays such as Sonia Cincinelli’s Senza frontiere (Rome: Kappa, ) and Angela Bianca Saponari’s Il corpo esiliato (Bari: Progedit, ), Vanoli’s work is original in demonstrating how Italian immigration cinema has worked as a ‘grande specchio dell’identità nazionale’ (p. ), while reviving the debate on authorship and genre in the Italian context. e volume includes a short Introduction, three chapters, closing remarks, and a useful appendix referencing major Italian films about immigration, about half of which are directly analysed by the author throughout the book. Chapter  provides a detailed analysis of the state of Italian cinema in the early s, investigating its turbulent evolution across the big and the small screen, in the rising years of Berlusconi’s Mediaset and at times of scarce public funding for the film industry. Vanoli highlights that, while television has played an important role in spreading xenophobic and populist attitudes towards immigrants, numerous film-makers have used the medium of cinema to convey solidarity with them. However, an appearance of support which in reality belittles the migrant characters is already identified in films such as Pirani’s L’appartamento (). In fact, the author clearly underlines how films about immigration, which was then—and remains today—one of the most divisive issues in Italian society, struggle to offer nuanced portraits of migrant subjects, and oen fall into the trap of buonismo. In the second chapter Vanoli examines the entanglements between immigration films and two strongholds of Italian cinema: author and genre. Analysing the works of De Seta, Bertolucci, and Olmi—the venerati maestri—she concludes that their  Reviews authoritative position in the Italian landscape does not exclude them from a paternalistic approach to narrating the story of the migrant, a clear example of which is identified by the author in the ending of De Seta’s Lettere dal Sahara (). Similar risks are highlighted in the production of the in-between generation of film-makers, particularly in the indulgent Western gaze cast in two major dramas, Amelio’s Lamerica () and Giordana’s Quando sei nato non puoi più nasconderti (). Such risks seem to be avoided with the third generation of registi, such as Garrone and Manetti Bros., who are seen as postmodern, globalized authors able to offer a less hierarchical vision of the interaction between Italians and immigrants, as in the metanarrative of Terra di mezzo () or in the moves towards accented cinema in Torino Boys (). e third chapter concludes the analysis on genre in immigration cinema from the early s, arguing that the theme of migration brings new life both into the tradition of documentary—a notable example being Come un uomo sulla terra by Biadene, Segre, and Yimer ()—and in the resurgence of comedy with works such as Comencini’s Bianco e nero (). At the same time, the author...