«Alfredino – An Italian story», Vermicino’s drama told without voyeurism- Corriere.it

by time news

A stone left in the heart of an entire country, a shared trauma, a painful event that belongs to historical memory. Alfredino is a name that forever evokes tragedy: «This story is an open wound for all of us who have lived it and buried it in our collective imagination and in our hearts – reflects the director Marco Pontecorvo -. After 40 years it is appropriate to tell it to try to close it. Because that tragedy also had a “positive” implication: very few know that our Civil Protection was born from that story, admired in many countries, and essential for dealing with emergencies, from earthquakes to Covid ».

On 21 and 28 June on Sky Cinema and streaming on Now Alfredino – An Italian story returns to turn on the light on that dark well that in 1981 had swallowed a 6-year-old child to return him lifeless. A story of great suspensions and expectations, of hopes and disappointments for hopes that do not come true. «For the first time all programs are blocked – explains Pontecorvo – and the television sets up an interminable live broadcast, as we are used to seeing today with all news channels. Despite having followed the minutes, we tried to get out of the pure news, to dig into the souls of the characters because we know what happened to Vermicino, but not the intimate of those who lived it on the skin, we do not know why some choices. The series is an opportunity to go deeply into the emotions of the protagonists and also a way to tell the story of Italy in 1981 which has faded into our memories, to let those who have never tasted it savor it ».


Pontecorvo found himself making a film with a “non-existent” protagonist, because Alfredino can only be seen in three scenes, before falling into the well: “The choice was not to see him again when he ends up in that black hole, it seemed to us that he added nothing, that he was disrespectful, we seemed to push the accelerator on wrong emotions, too simple, too pietistic, too voyeuristic. We gave strength to a different choice: the well itself has become a character, the buzz, the noises, the look from the black hole upwards, the muffled sound it returns ».

A choral film with Franca Rampi (the mother, played by Anna Foglietta) at the center, “A very strong woman who a few minutes after the tragedy, destroyed by grief, had the strength to speak with President Pertini to tell him that something like this should never happen again”, a request that transforms the disorganization surrounding the tragedy into a organizational structure – the Civil Protection – to deal with similar events. The series (in four episodes) does not use archival and repertoire material, but immerses the viewer in the atmosphere of the time through fragments shot with an old Beta of 40 years ago, “with a very realistic result because the detachment from quality of the filming with the cameras today is clear ».

«The one that proved decisive in the choice to realize Alfredino – An Italian story – explains Antonella d’Errico, Executive Vice President Programming Sky Italia – it was the possibility, but I would say even more the need, to tell everyone just that lesser-known aspect of the story: what happened next, when the spotlights and the cameras went out. And the “after” is a story of unspeakable tenacity and altruism. Franca and Ferdinando Rampi, always united, fought to improve that country that had not been able to help them, giving a great lesson in life to all of us. It is difficult to understand and identify with this behavior, which can only be admired. And to know. Necessarily. This is why this story had to be told, to those who lived it and remembers the anguish of that interminable live television broadcast and to the youngest who have no memory of it, but who cannot fail to know a piece of recent history of our country, which has marked the collective consciousness “.

June 21, 2021 (change June 21, 2021 | 08:02)

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