La story of a man who in the fifties it brings the handicapped out of the shadows and for the first time places them at the center of a great sporting event. IS Hard-nosed by Marco Pontecorvo, tonight in prime time on Rai 1with a touching and convincing Flavio Insinna in the shoes of the doctor Antonio Maglio.
Thanks to his tenacity, Maglio managed to get the contest in Rome in 1960 the first Paralympics in the world. Doctor and manager of INAIL, he used sport to help the disabled to integrate into society. Because, like everyone else, «i disabled people have to marry, fall in love, work and have children“.
In the 1950s, young people with physical disabilities were considered without a future: they were stuffed with drugs to relieve physical and psychological pain. Doctor Maglio had absolutely innovative approaches, leading people to change their point of view and the disabled themselves to have a different perception of themselves. For the handicapped people thus began to see a possible future in society.
Hard-nosed: the plot
Antonio Maglio (Flavio Insinna) is an INAIL manager who, due to a drama personal, no longer practices the profession of doctor. But the colleague and friend Star (Claudia Vismara) suggests that he direct the Paraplegic Center of Ostia “Villa Marina” and helps him to open his eyes to what will become his mission. By treating young people with disabilities, Maglio comes back to life and with his methods revolutionizes the sector.
A scene from “A hard snout”. (Rai)
To achieve his goal the doctor uses sport: a tool thanks to which people with disabilities can integrate into society. And break through the wall that prevents them from having a normal life. This is how you start at Villa Marina a playing wheelchair basketball, throwing javelins, archery and fencing. His methods are not welcomed at first, and there are also those who try to hinder him.
Maglio does not lose heart, its center becomes a center of excellence. To use his words: «Disabled people are extraordinary people with all the rights and duties of the” able-bodied “». Together with professional history, the film also tells the personal story of the doctor who, thanks to the love for his patients, come back to love himself and a woman.
Claudia Vismara and Flavio Insinna. (Rai)
The first Paralympics of 1960
Maglio has an even bigger dream: to have his boys participate in a sporting event with the same characteristics as the Olympic Games. It is he who associates the Stoke Mandeville Games (games for the disabled that took place since 1948 in Great Britain, thanks to the work of the Dr. Ludwig Guttmann) at the Olympics.
No.n 1960 the first Paralympics in history took place in Rome: those which, until then, were competitions with a small audience and a more therapeutic than sporting purpose, become like this a great world event, destined to break down physical and mental barriers, to unhinge prejudices and change the perception of disability. Thousands of people begin to see the future ahead of them.
A scene from the tv movie. (Rai)
Flavio Insinna: «Hard-nosed it’s part of my life “
Flavio Insinna he particularly cares about this role. His father was a doctor and it is thanks to him that at the age of eight Flavio saw his first match of wheelchair basketball at the Santa Lucia rehabilitation center in Rome. Not only that, at 11 the actor and presenter left for the Paralympics in Canada with my father: to assist but also to lend a hand.
“This film is part of me“says the actor, perfect in the role of Maglio (surely it is his most successful interpretation, other than the Colonel Anceschi in Don Matteo). When he called me Marco Pontecorvo fears assailed meI meant no, I didn’t feel up to it. Then I accepted the role of a genius, of a man of extraordinary sensitivity ». Which maybe the same Insinna crossed paths in the corridors of the Santa Lucia, together with dad Salvatore.
Flavio Insinna. (Rai)
There is still a lot to do for the disabled
“Much has been done, but there is still a lot to do for the disabled“, Insinna recalls:”Every day those with a disability face constant obstacles: going to school, to the cinema or to the theater. We are all special, but there are more special people who need a civilized country that listens to them ».
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