Narciso. Dietro i cannoni, davanti ai muli
Narciso. Behind the cannons, in front of the mules
Marcello Baldi, Dario Baldi / Italy / 2008 / 95 min / Colour
Narciso Dal Cason is an 84-year-old man, who has grown up and lived in a town in the Valsugana area of the Trentino region, where he has always worked as a shepherd and where everyone calls him Ciso. He began as a herdsman, while still a youth, then became the manager of the mountain refuge. He is a good man: wise, gruff, and contentuous, but sensitive and expert, like few others, on the mountains and their secrets. He has lived alone since, widowed, he raised his only son, Tommaso who abandoned him once he reached adulthood, attracted by the mirages and exotic pull of India. Out of the blue, after twenty years, Tommaso reappears. He returns from India with his young companion, Aruna, and their son, Samir. Ciso greets them with open arms, like the father of the prodigal son in the parable, and right away grows fond of his grandson and, even if he initially regards her with suspicion, of the boy’ s mother, Aruna. Aruna is Muslim and this is the source of various conflicts and reactions in this small town of antique, deeply-rooted Christian traditions. All of this is slowly overcome given Tommaso’s exemplary behavior, Aruna’s charm, and little Samir’ s irresistable personality, as well as the goodness and wisdom of Ciso who sees the last years of his life finally lightened by the affection of his family. The old man cannot wait to see Tommaso and Aruna married, as soon as they have the necessary documents, even if only in a civil ceremony given their religious differences; in part to avoid the danger that mother and son could be expelled from Italy because they are foreigners without legal permission to stay in the country. But just when their dream is about to be realized, thanks to the help of the mayor, the local priest, and a valiant and humane marshall of the state police, Tommaso is diagnosed with an incurable disease. Ciso is unable to withstand this umpteenth, heavy blow that strikes down not only the life of his son, but also the strong fiber of this man of the mountains. Yet it is he, on the verge of death, who will marry the Indian woman, thus allowing her to stay with her son in the community that has, by now, accepted and welcomed them in the name of that tolerance that makes possible the convergence of differing and very distant faiths and cultures.
Marcello Baldi
Dario Baldi
Credits
Language Italian Subject Marcello Baldi Screenplay Marcello Baldi Cinematography Ugo Menegatti Editing Dario Baldi Music Giuliano Sangiorgi Main cast Roberto Herlitzka, Amina Syed, Alessandro Di Natale, Catherine Feller, Gennaro Piccirillo, Ayaz Mansha Producer Paolo Ghezzi Production company Nervous Pixels
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