No.n the day of 30th anniversary of the Capaci massacre, Rai 1 recalls Letizia Battaglia, the photographer he has told about Palermo and the big news events starting from the rise of the mafia in Sicily.
On air tonight and Monday 23 May from 21.25, Only for passion – Letizia Battaglia photographs therefore tells the life and passion of Letizia, who passed away on April 13 at the age of 87. In the main role of the fiction directed by Roberto Andò, an intense Isabella Ragonese, who met Battaglia (who gave the blessing to the whole production).
Only for passion – Letizia Battaglia photographerthe plot
Letizia is a curious and rebellious young girl in post-war Palermo. A retrograde city, which is tight for her. Look for his escape route from that reality distant from his personality and finds it in marriage. At sixteen he married Franco Stagnitta (Paolo Briguglia)and together they have three daughters: Cinzia, Shobha and Patrizia. However, the union turns out to be anything but rosy and she is forced to abandon her studies.
In those years, she is courted by a peer. The family accuses her of adultery and it is the beginning of a very difficult path, which tests her resistance. She is admitted to a Swiss clinic and undergoing psychiatric treatment. Once back in Palermo, around the age of 35, she begins to frequent the cultural environment of the city and meets Santi Caleca (Enrico Inserra). Her story with her photographer gives her the strength to leave her husband and build a life within her reach.
The photographer Letizia Battaglia. (Getty Images)
The early days are not easy. He manages to make ends meet thanks to the newspaper Time. He plays the role of reporter and each article must be accompanied by a photo. Driven by necessity, Letizia Battaglia discovers photography. The daily life inside the newspaper, however, is full of clashes due to the bourgeois and irreverent personality of the woman and when Santi leaves Palermo to move to Milan, he decides to follow himalthough the eldest daughter prefers to stay and live with her father.
It is the 1970s, the Lombard capital is a lively and stimulating environment, which allows it to establish itself. He starts a professional partnership with his partnerto the point that, after having conquered Northern Italy, the couple is recalled to Palermo to direct the photo shoot of de Time.
Isabella Ragonese in the role of Letizia Battaglia. (Rai)
The advances of the second episode
The second episode of Only for passion – Letizia Battaglia photographs starts from return of the photographer to Palermo. The city is in full turmoil, crossed by rivers of blood at the hands of the mafia. The work leads her to collide not only with the bloodiest face of reality, but also with a difficult environmentpopulated by reporters, photographers and male-dominated policemen.
The difficult working life, then, is intertwined with the family one. The daughters accuse the absence of their mother because of the all-encompassing profession she has chosen. Even the union with Saints is no longer booming e Caleca decides to return to Milan. In this difficult balance between public and private, Battaglia pours all of herself into the images with which she recounts her gaze on the world. In addition, he earns the esteem of the head of the Mobile, Boris Giuliano (Sergio Vespertino)and the collaborators he surrounds himself with.
Some time later, crushed by the work pressure and the stress accumulated over the years, Letizia takes a break from work, to attend a theater workshop, where she meets Franco Zecchin (Federico Brugnone), a young photographer which becomes part of Time. Meanwhile, in the city the balances jump and it is the beginning of hardest page for Palermo: the mafia killings. Battaglia tells about the heinous crimes with his camera and organizes an exhibition with the aim of reporting what is happening.
Pictures are at least as powerful as words and they are annoyingto the point that it receives a death threat and it is the judge Giovanni Falcone (Peppino Mazzotta) to advise her to leave Palermo. The woman, however, rebellious and combative, refuses and courageously continues to live in the Sicilian capital. Years after, his work moves on to other subjects. He starts photographing little girls and when in 1992 Giovanni Falcone lost his life with his wife Francesca Morvillo and the agents of the escort, he decided not to take even a picture.
Isabella Ragonese in the role of Letizia Battaglia. (Rai)
Who was Letizia Battaglia
Anti-mafia icon, Letizia was able to see invisible details, recounting splits of reality raw and not always pleasant. But without the photos of him we would not have the documents of what this country was, and still is. An extraordinary woman is a symbol of freedom and the strength of art, and specifically of Palermo by the mafia government.
In 1985 it was the first European to be awarded the prestigious Eugene Smith Prize, ex aequo with the American Donna Ferrato, (international recognition established to remember the photographer of Life).
Letizia Battaglia and the director Roberto Went on the set of “Only for passion – Letizia Battaglia photographer”. (Rai)
During the presentation press conference, Roberto Andò defined it «a symbol not only for the Palermitans. A woman who has never resolved herself into something, but was dominated by the idea of changing the world with great tenacity and with her witness work ».
For the director of Rai Fiction, Maria Pia Admire yourself“His photograph was a subversive act that induced thought in a country full of contradictions“.
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