by Fabrizio Galatea
Italia, 2012, 52'
Zenit Arti Audiovisive Società Cooperativa (Torino)
This documentary recounts the meeting of the two impossibly reconcilable worlds, so different from each other that it appears incredible that they co-existed for more than three years. One world: the clay hills of Murge, a harsh and arid land populated by poor, resigned peasants who possessed no sense of belonging to a state they had always considered aloof and greedy. The other world: top-level international politics, theater of the Cold War, a scenario which sees Italy seeking its own key role to make up for lost ground in the post-WWII era, and greater autonomy in foreign policy decisions. In this meeting of two such different worlds, Italian military personnel sent to the bases provided the interface. They were young and promising Air Force officers with mixed feelings about their mission: the American dream they learned to cherish during their training course in Nevada, their pride in guarding the defense against the Soviet threat, their awareness that they could be the material executors of a worldwide catastrophe.
The film covers unknown, thrilling events leading to the most dramatic momment in the Cold War with a well-documented historical reconstruction and an ironic narrative style.
The story of a tragedy averted at the last minute, told by both eminent and unknown players of the time, with comedy moments reminiscent of the Don Camillo and Peppone movies.
The story is based on partly unpublished archives and a creative visual script.
The film is aimed at a wide target, and aims at TV distribution as well as the festival circuit and events connected to the 2011 celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
The project's development is being financed by Media and its production by Apulia Film Commission. Negotiations are under way with RAI Educational for a pre-sales agreement.
Emanuela De Giorgi (location manager). Marco Fantozzi (graphic artist)
Superottimisti - Archivio regionale di film di famiglia (immagini d'archivio)
Leopoldo Nuti, Pasquale Doria, Nichi Vendola, Giulio Andreotti, Lorenzo Monteleone, Antonio Papangelo, Pasquale Bruno, col. Cersosimo, mar. Mariani, sig.ra Perrone, Peppino Vasco, Vlad Zubok.