Qhis evening in prime time on Rai 3 is on air Still airunmissable film by Leonardo Di Costanzo (Ischian director awarded in 2012 with a Donatello’s David with the interval), intplayed by two of the best Italian actors: Toni Servillo and Silvio Orlando. The story is set in an Italian prison, but the film is much more than a prison movie. Between the bars, in a place where you can smell “the smell of punishment” (director’s words), lives intertwine and human relationships are established between people who are formally enemies. Prisoners and guards, who discover they have a lot in common, starting with their imprisonment. A story not true but very real. The film, after programming, will be available on Raiplay.
“Ariaferma”, the plot: good and evil between bars
We are in the prison of Mortana, in Sardinia, which is about to be decommissioned and must be emptied. Due to an unexpected event, twelve prisoners cannot be transferred. It’s up to the few remaining guards to watch them. The twelve men are then locked up in an area structured in such a way that only one warder can keep an eye on them. One of the security guards is Inspector Gaetano Gargiulo (Toni Servillo) who starts a relationship, made up of dialogues, glances, verbal confrontations, unspoken words, with the camorrist criminal Carmine La Gioia (Silvio Orlando)a ruthless, shrewd and intelligent man.
However, life in what remains of the prison is increasingly difficult. For reasons of force majeure, the rights of prisoners are limited and tension mounts. Gargiulo takes over the management of the prison due to his seniority, while La Gioia leads the prisoners in the protest against the closure of the kitchens. Then, to reassure them, he offers himself to be in charge of preparing meals for the prisoners and the agents. Gargiulo accepts the solution: will he be able to keep everything under control?
Silvio Orlando, Fabrizio Ferracane and Salvatore Striano. Guards and “thieves” in Di Costanzo’s film. (credit: Gianni Fiorito)
The particular condition also physically brings inmates and guards closer. And contact in the most risky situations creates a lot of tension, even in the film. One evening, with prisoners and agents gathered for dinner at a common table, the light goes out. The following evening, due to a mistake, the racketeer has to improvise lunch with vegetables from the prison garden. A dialogue takes place between the prisoner and the police officer in which the two retrace their stories, not even too different: from the neighborhood where they grew up to life between bars.
“Ariaferma”: a location where you can smell pain
Mortana Correctional Facility doesn’t actually exist, but it was staged as symbol of the many prisons studied by the director for the movie. Still air was filmed in the former prison of San Sebastian of Sassari. “We were looking for a circular structure from which the branches start,” explained the director. «The Sassari prison was perfect, it was abandoned a few years ago and the smell of punishment was still felt inside. We were in full lockdown and we lived for weeks in two bubbles, the prison and the hotel. Sharing the captivity on the set and in the hotel has given so much».
The time of air of the prisoners. The prison where the film was shot is located in Sassari. (credit: Gianni Fiorito)
Still is the prison air. Immovable, precisely, like prisoners who can never leave, or guards, locked up for work. A place where time does not flow or does so very slowly. Still air it is a film that flows slowly, but which is exciting, touching, never banal. A Pfilm that investigates the relationships within the detention space, in which two hostile worlds coexist but paradoxically condemned to a similar fate. “I come from the documentary and I felt the need to investigate this reality,” explained the director Leonard DiCostanzo. «I have met people who have experienced prison on both sides. I came across a rich universe that led me to reflect on the prison situation, on punishments, on good and evil».
Toni Servillo (agent Gargiulo) and Silvio Orlando (the inmate La Gioia) (credit: Gianni Fiorito)
A perfect cast for a well-written story
Silvio Orlando and Toni Servillo, the two protagonists, are actors of great skill who fly very high on a level screenplay. The dinner that sees prisoners and guards gathered around the table is of rare beauty. “When Leonardo sent me the script he didn’t tell me what role I would have done,” explained Silvio Orlando. «As I read it, I immediately thought of the guard, closest to my acting skills. Instead, she gave me the other role and this allowed me to have a first time with a character like that». «For me it was very fascinating to play this official who believes in his job but who also prevents the chain of violence outside from being repeated inside the prison». Servillo said.
«To build the film we visited many prisons», said the director, who trained as a documentary filmmaker. «Almost everywhere we have found great willingness to talk, to tell each other; it happened that the meetings involved agents, management and some prisoners together. The climate was convivial, they almost competed in telling stories. We also laughed. Then, when the banquet was over, everyone returned to their roles and the men in uniform, keys in hand, accompanied the others, the inmates, back to the cells. Faced with this drastic return to reality, we outsiders felt disoriented. And it was precisely this sense of disorientation that guided the making of the film: Still air it is not a film about conditions in Italian prisons. It is perhaps a film about the absurdity of prison».
iO Woman © REPRODUCTION RESERVED