I wanted to hide on Rai 3, plot, cast, life of Ligabue

Qthis evening, at around 9.20pm on Rai 3, it is broadcast I wanted to hidea film by Giorgio Diritti starring Elio Germano as the Emilian painter Antonio Ligabue. An original and touching biopic that tells the story art, mental illness and rural life of the Emilian countryside in the first decades of the last century.

I wanted to hidethe plot of the movie

Great naive Emilian painter who lived until 1965, Antonio Ligabue (Elio Germano) is one of the most relevant figures in local and international contemporary art. In the absolute peace of the banks of the Po river, the eccentric artist, suffering from rickets, loved to paint lions, tigers, gorillas and jaguarsthe film deals with his entire life, starting from his very complicated childhood. In fact, his mother, who emigrated to Switzerland, gave birth to him but then entrusted him to a couple of friends with whom Toni, this is her nickname, had a love and hate relationship for years. In this sentence, Ligabue finds a form of redemption in painting.

Alone and marginalized from the outside world, by painting he manages to catapult himself into a universe of his own, made up of inventiveness and creativity. Expelled from Switzerland after attacking his adoptive mother, Ligabue returns to Italy. He is totally alone and, on the banks of the Po, suffers from hunger and the cold. He starts painting to pass the time and to manage his many anxieties. His life changes after meeting the sculptor Renato Marino Mazzacurati, who convinces him to dedicate his life to art. This is the way to emerge, assert yourself and fully understand your identity. And so it was that “El Tudesc”, as he was called mockingly, dhe became one of the most celebrated artists of the 1950s and 1960s.

A touching and original biopic

Directed by the talented Giorgio Diritti – in competition at the Venice Film Festival these days with Lubo – , I wanted to hide it is not the classic biopic on the life of a great painter. Far from narrative linearity, the film is characterized from the first scenes by continuous time jumps in which we see the harassment that Ligabue has suffered since early childhood. Due to an archaic education system and his mental conditions which prevented him from defending himself from the constant aggression of his peers.

The director’s great merit is first of all his ability to tell in an unconventional way the biography of a brilliant artist marginalized by society, whose life was marked by poverty and madness. But Diritti is not limited to this: in fact he chooses to “transform” the shots as if they were palettes of paintings. Choosing pictorial cuts and a pastel photographythe film is about art and becomes art itself as the images often come to life like painted canvases.

Written by the director himself together with Fredo Valla and Tania Pedroni, I wanted to hide it is also a film about mental illness – right from the title, the direction highlights the protagonist’s psycho-social marginalization – and about community life in the Po Valley, between farms, animals and public housing. Filmed in Reggio Emilia dialect, appropriately subtitled, it resembles a masterpiece The clog tree by Ermanno Olmi. The absolute protagonist is a chameleon-like Elio Germano, made unrecognizable by masterly make-up and able to embody the character with a visceral Stanislavski-style performance. An acting marathon that was worth it a well-deserved Silver Bear in Berlin for best actor.

The talent of Elio Germano

Born in Rome in 1980, the future protagonist of The fabulous young man He made his debut on television at a very young age. In fact, at just 8 years old he was the protagonist of a television commercial while at 13 he made his cinema debut with You broke us dad of Castellano and Pipolo. After years of apprenticeship, popularity arrived in 2007 thanks to Daniele Luchetti’s film My brother is an only child where he co-stars with Riccardo Scamarcio. Luchetti also allows Elio to make himself known on the international scene. In fact, in 2010 the film Our life is selected in competition a Cannes and the actor will take it home the very prestigious award for best male performance ex aequo with Javier Bardem for Biutiful. It was from 1987, with Marcello Mastroiannithat an Italian actor did not win a similar award.

After the success of Cannes, Elio Germano works with directors of the caliber of Mario Martone, Gianni Amelio, Ferzan Ozpetek and the D’Innocenzo brothers. Always giving intense interpretations and never over the topwith an acting intelligence that is truly rare for contemporary Italian cinema. Absolute anti-star, difficult to see him at parties or on the red carpet, this autumn we will see him in the uncomfortable role of Matteo Messina Denaro in the film by Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia Letters to Catello. Alongside Germano also Toni Servillo and Filippo Luna while the film was shot in Sicily and almost entirely indoors. The set, set up between Trapani and the province, involved the territories where the Castelvetrano boss mainly exercised his criminal power, even as a fugitive.

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