TO thirty years after the unjust arrest of Enzo Tortora, it airs this evening on Rai 3 (9.20 pm). Enzo Tortora – I want to imagine myself elsewhere. Documentary that reconstructs the life of the famous TV presenter and the sensational case of bad justice in which he was involved in 1983.
Enzo Tortorainnocent: who accused the presenter
With a structure that unfolds on two parallel story lines, that of the showman and that of the alleged drug dealer affiliated with the Camorra, the documentary reconstructs the salient moments of Enzo Tortora’s career and the tragic judicial mess of which he was the victim.
In the early 1980s, the journalist and presenter was an esteemed professional, one of the best-known and most loved faces on Italian television. After successfully hosting the broadcast for years Sports Sundaygives life to Portobello: the program that marks the peak of his success and that breaks every share record ever achieved before. Touching the threshold of 26 million viewers, approximately 47% of the population. In short, one Italian in two stays glued to the TV every day.
Based on the idea of a market where participants could sell their inventions, or look for objects by being contacted by the public from home through live telephone calls, Portobello lasts until 1983 when, to everyone’s amazement, Tortora is arrested. It’s June 17th and the conductor is taken to prison with the accusation of Camorra association and drug trafficking. To accuse him, unjustly, a repentant who wanted to get some relief from his sentence.
Enzo Tortora in the “Portobello” studio. (La Presse)
Thus began a long and painful judicial ordeal, associated with a ruthless media campaign in which the imbalance between a few innocent people and a group of guilty people is evident. Tortora vHe was sentenced to ten years in prison before being completely exonerated in 1986. Seriusly sick, he died in 1988 after a brief return to TV, right with his beloved Portobello. A touching moment, also made famous by the phrase that the host utters: «So, where were we?“, That the studio audience welcomed it with a long standing ovation.
A story of bad justice not to be forgotten
Built on archive materials and unpublished images, the documentary is enriched by many testimonies from colleagues, lawyers, judges and people close to him. To better understand who the man was and retrace the drama he experienced with humanity and dignity.
As director Tommaso Cennamo declared, «our intent is to keep the memory of one of the most shameful parentheses in the history of our country. And we do it by looking back the facts with the gaze of a present in which, unfortunately, there are an average of three miscarriages of justice per day. Scanning the various steps of the legal case, the story delves into a series of themes that characterized the case this absurd case of bad justice».
Among the protagonist faces, we find Tortora’s last partner, Francesca Scopelliti. And then Amadeus, Massimo Bernardini, Francesco Rutelli and Ricky Tognazzidirector and actor of the 2012 Rai miniseries The Enzo Tortora case – Where were we?. Greatly absent, not without controversy, was his daughter Gaia.
The journalist Gaia Tortora. (Franco Ferrajuolo / Sgp).
The (controversial) absence of Gaia Tortora
Deputy director of La7 newsthe journalist in recent days wanted to have her say on the documentary. Sparking a brawl with both Rai and Francesca Scopelliti, his father’s last partner.
It all starts from one tweet of October 9th when Gaia chirps «To those who are asking…I wasn’t even invited and I didn’t know anything about it. I am no longer surprised by anything”, referring to the screening of the documentary in the Chamber of Parliamentary Groups of the Chamber of Deputies scheduled for the following day.
Wednesday 11 October, the journalist returns to chirping and this time the tone becomes even more heated. «I had the opportunity to see the documentary. My father was a private man. I understand now why I wasn’t invited. Rai takes care of those who still have no voice today. Instead of putting together testimonies and passing them off as a documentary». A tweet that triggers the reaction of the director of Rai Doc Fabrizio Zappi, who assures that Gaia Tortora was contacted three times by the production to participate in the documentary.
A question and answer to which Scopelliti also joined, claiming her role as moral “heir” of a battle against bad justice that the presenter entrusted to her shortly before his death in 1988. And declaring herself sorry for her daughter’s choice not to participate in the documentary.
Statements that pushed Tortora to tweet a third time:«It is my right not to participate in a project that does not convince me and for this reason in one of the many proposals I receive I said that I was not interested. Also because if I remember correctly my sister had recently passed away. However, I was not invited to the screening». And who knows if the controversies will continue even after the broadcast.
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