“Maybe I could have been a little country priest. But I always had this instinct to tell stories. Better, to show off stories”. The “lectio magistralis” by Roberto Benigni that followed the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement may be disappointed those who wanted another one of his histrionic shows. But he’s been able one more to touch everybody’s hearts. First answering my question about what he could have done of his life, then talking about time passing.
The lesson moderated by Gianni Canova started with a lesson on the history of cinema and about those who made cinema: his “models”, “spiritual authors who convey feelings”, his “flowery top”, “the most important thing in life”, that is made “not only of instincts and emotions”. Benigni quoted Chaplin, his silent gestures and “that capacity of being poetic and makes people laugh at the same time”, that makes him “one of those men that always follows you with the language of dreams“a real flame, the greatest director of the 20th century”, thanks to his “impeccable technique” and his capacity to concentrate in one movie twenty big scenes just like La Dolce Vita and 8 ½”.
Benigni started to show off explaining what is making the move to him. “It’s not fun but a commitment to face with study, discipline and honour. When the director says yes the scene is there forever and this a weight to carry on”. And it’s even more difficult today “in this age of images that never give us alone”. Then he physically left the chair to hug a woman from the audience who revealed to have chosen to live in Italy after watching Life is Beautiful. And suddenly arrives his confession about time passing that must be indulged even if brings the “feeling that it’s me chasing ideas not ideas chasing me anymore”. The reason why we are still waiting for the new film by Roberto Benigni is that “I see the idea growing but at one point I’m not convinced anymore”. The closing is about feeling “that are the most important thing” and is “much better to fall in love with people and situation and don’t resist to feelings”. The idea is to have had a real lesson about how lightness and profound reflections can cohabit. And about how cinema is the fiction that is due to all of us to face the complexity of life.
Sylvia Bartyan
