In the tragic lives of slain
anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino,
there was an unexpected forced vacation on the island of Asinara
seven years before their deaths.
It was 1985 when, in order to write up the investigation
results in preparation for the 1986 Maxi Trial against Cosa
Nostra, the two magistrates were forced to stay on the Sicilian
island of Asinara together with their families, because of Mafia
death threats.
This is the story told in 'Era D'Estate' (It Was Summer)
directed by Fiorella Infascelli, which pre-opened the Rome Film
Festival on Thursday, starring Massimo Populizio in the role of
Falcone and Giuseppe Fiorello as Borsellino.
In one night, the two "super magistrates" took up residence
in the small guesthouse at Cala D'Olivia on Asinara - where,
incidentally, the film was also shot with the support of the
Sardinian Film Commission - watched over by a pilot boat and
penitentiary guards.
There they were forced to stay, unusually relaxed with
their two different personalities that were almost diametrically
opposed.
Falcone was left-wing, anxious, keeping his head down, and
famously collected figurines of ducks, while Borsellino was
right-wing, more optimistic, and was well-versed in Shakespeare
and Dante.
The two found themselves having to share an unexpected
summer awaiting papers for the Maxi Trial that, however, never
arrived.
In the meantime, Lucia, Borsellino's oldest daughter
(played by Elvira Cammarone), suffers from a case of anorexia so
serious that she has to be taken to Palermo, while Manfredi, her
brother, (played by Giovanni D'Aleo), has adventures on the
island.
On Asinara they formed a sort of extended family, where
there was a complicity between the partners of the two
magistrates - Francesca Morvillo, Falcone's girlfriend, played
by Valeria Solarino, and Agnese Borsellino, Paolo's wife, played
by Claudia Potenza.
On the island they go swimming, they play Battleship, they
laugh and they look out at the sea.
Borsellino at a certain point says he wants to be reborn as
a gardener, while Falcone has only the great fear that the delay
in receiving the files hides a desire to delay the Maxi Trial.
Foreshadowings of death aren't lacking either, especially
in a scene in which Falcone and Borsellino are cleaning sea
urchins and tell of their fears.
Then there's the return to normal life, when the two
families go back to Palermo, through to the inevitable fate that
befell the two magistrates in 1992, when they were both killed
by Cosa Nostra.
A key phrase in the movie is when Borsellino, speaking of
the death of Ninni Cassarà, says, "well, it's known that in the
end, Palermo swallows everything".
"I wanted above all to tell the story of this forced
inactivity," explains the director who has worked side-by-side
with Giuseppe and Bernardo Bertolucci, Pier Paolo Pasolini and
Nanni Loy.
"I met Borsellino and I read a lot about him, and I met
with people who knew both him and Falcone. I wanted to feature
these two men who are considered heros, but capable also of
humor. But the real emotion was filming in the same guesthouse
where that summer took place," Infascelli said.
Fiorello said he was especially emotional playing the role
of the mythical Borsellino.
"It's true that the phrase that Palermo swallows everything
is important. It's a political phrase, still true, that's also a
prediction for the future".
Populizio is even harsher in his judgement.
"That phrase still makes sense. We know that it's still
that way. We're all in a sort of big dumpster," he said.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
