The news was in the air: It was the hand of God by Paolo Sorrentino is in the Oscar nominations 2022 for best foreign film. It is good news? Is it real glory for Italian cinema? In some respects, certainly yes: it is still a fair acknowledgment towards a part of our film production which nonetheless expresses great quality. In other respects, however, leads to reflection more carefully on its meaning, both as regards the merits of the proposed film and as regards instead the specific "weight" of national titles and directors in the context of global cinematography where Sorrentino is called to compete (it should be taken into account that this film is produced and distributed by Netflix which this year has over 25 nominations in competition while last year it had 35).
As for the title, just It was the hand of God is released in theaters we wrote about it at length on FIRSTonline expressing strong reservations. And we have clearly argued that Sorrentino's work is all too little because it is focused only on his autobiography, as did his two illustrious colleagues in the same period: Carlo Verdone (Life at Carlo's) and Nanni Moretti (Three floors). Once again, the directors' own story, personal events, childhood memories have had their most relevant affirmation in these titles. And, notoriously, a product of this type may not be enough for compete on the international stage and hope to win audiences in theaters (not exciting numbers). It immediately makes you think: when there is little to say, he talks about yourself.
Of course, it is also necessary to know how to do it well and it is not for everyone. In this case Sorrentino, with this film, has succeeded very well, like him, but we are light years away since his 2014 Oscar with the great beauty. On that occasion, not only his great technical ability as a director was rewarded, but also the proposal, the story in images of a great subject that already with his name is enough to support the whole film: Rome.
It was the hand of God, however paradoxical it may appear when it assumes the "glory" of the Oscar nomination, brings out and photographs more or less perfectly the state of health of Italian cinema: weak, feverish, without energy and exhausted by Covid. However, this last consideration is too often used as a mitigating factor, a sort of "life preserver" that would like to allow floating in a sea that has been stormy for a long time.
When discussing the crisis of Italian cinema, one cannot help but evaluate the solidity of the three pillars upon which cinema rests: conception, production and distribution. If you try to type “Italian cinema crisis” on Google, numerous links appear that refer to well before the spread of the pandemic that saw all of us hole up inside the house and empty the cinemas.
He is often mentioned among those involved in cinema a 1982 book by Paolo Bertetto (Bompiani) with the title "The ugliest in the world: Italian cinema today" where the author was already launching a strong accusation against the generation of great directors who wrote the most glorious pages of national cinema (from Bertolucci passing to Ferreri and ending up in Fellini) and who certainly made school but also left a desert of creativity whose weight is still felt and in which few have been able to emerge. Not surprisingly, the same It was the hand of God begins with images in which he re-proposes a "homage" to Maestro Federico (the floor lamp).
We propose a small exercise: try to draw up your own staff short list of the best titles Italians of the last 10 years. It is very probable that after mentioning (we mention three of our favorites at random) Matteo Garrone with Dogman, Cesare must die by the Taviani brothers, Perfect strangers by Paolo Genovese, They called me Jeeg Robot by Gabriele Mainetti and, indeed, The great beauty by Paolo Sorrentino, there is very little else left to add. We have mentioned only a few titles where we have tried to range beyond the "traditional" genres of more or less Italian comedy, i.e. capable of dealing with other themes slightly more distant from their own national-popular navel. Do you happen to have any other titles in your memory? Do you remember recent films for example on the theme of "history" or "adventure"?
So, as we mentioned before: first of all it seems to us that we can observe a structural weakness of creative writing, of invention, of imagination, of strong and convincing screenplays. Then Italian cinema has to deal with a production system on the one hand lazy by contributions that have looked more at "regional" titles (the notorious "Film Commissions of ..." which aimed more at making promotional spots than at supporting quality works. On the other hand, even producers have their responsibilities in little courage expressed to invest in quality rather than quantity. Warning: this does not mean that to make good films you need large capitals, indeed, often, the opposite is true (the Taviani brothers teach).
Sure, and let's go back to Covid, it's been two years the cinema machine has jammed in all its sectors and it is objectively difficult to think of producing something that we don't know when it will be released in theaters. If we add to all this the rampant productive and distributive power of the network giants (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+) all evaluations take on a very different direction and consistency. Distribution (and now increasingly also production) on the Web as well as streaming are cannibalizing television and at the same time changing and transforming the "intimate" and profound nature of cinema.
In the last quarter of a century the expressive language has changed profoundly, the different acting skills, the shooting times concentrated in sequences of clips, the scenography, the lights, the movements of the camera. We are inundated with increasingly globalized offerings which undoubtedly lead us to come to terms with a new world of cinema against which our country struggles to keep up with the competition. The question that arises is simple: is Italian cinema equipped to support this comparison?
The latest Anica Report on “Data from the 2021 film market” provides us merciless numbers and signals the annus horribilis of Italian cinema that has just ended. We read that "Compared to 2020, which had benefited from one of the best market launches ever before the closures, this is a decrease in receipts and attendances of 7,19% and 11,87% respectively, while compared to 2019 of a decrease of -73,36% and -74,60%; compared instead to the average of the period 2017-2019 it is more generally a 71,39% drop in receipts and 73,03% of attendance”.
That's about it Italian cinema: “Total takings (including co-productions) in theaters during the year 2021 were €36.336.187 (21,45% of the total box office; -64,8% compared to 2020; -45% compared average for the period 2017-2019 from 26/4) for a number of admissions equal to 5.576.987 (22,49% of the total number of tickets sold; -64,4% compared to 2020; -45,6% compared to average 2017-2019)". If we remove a couple of blockbuster titles (see ToloTolo by Zalone) crumbs remain. In the meantime the cinema halls in small and large urban centers close and drop like flies and, with rare and small exceptions (see for example the history of the Troisi cinema in Rome: a great merit of a group of boys from theLittle America Association that deserve mention) it will be difficult to imagine a recovery within a short time.
For now, let's settle for cheering and supporting Paolo Sorrentino for a new Oscar. The director already feels like a "winner" just by being nominated and he has, we all have, good reason to believe it. For the rest, beyond the Oscar, we just have to hope for a miracle Italian film which, however, is not known from which side it may come.
