A tribute to Elio Petri: the Notes on a filmmaker
Yesterday, the Venice Days presented a tribute to a major author, Elio Petri (1929-1982). This long-awaited documentary by Federico Bacci, Stefano Leone and Nicola Guarneri comes as a surprise...
This long-awaited documentary on Elio Petri (1929-1982) comes as a surprise for the young generation and as a relief for older film-lovers. Indeed, the life and work of this great master, presented here in chronological order, is as crucial to the History of cinema as Fellini or Rosselini's films.
His twelve movies, all different, all brilliant, many of which won prizes at the most prestigious film events (Cannes, Berlin, Oscars...), appear to have lost none of their power: the huge crowd who attended the screening in Venice reacted positively and laughed often. Bertolucci, Robert Altman, Ursula Andress, and Dante Ferretti, among many others, remember him as an aesthete and a political pioneer, and as someone whose passion for cinema was never in doubt.
Yet, as the critic Aggeo Savioli underlines, 'his cinema was not only about cinema; there was more to it.' Petri was an un-conventional communist, a filmmaker who was proud of the fact that cinema is a deeply popular art form, someone whose freedom was always challenged by defenders of the system, to no avail —that goes without saying. In fact, his personality and his art cannot be separated, which is why the documentary is so full of great anecdotes told by his collaborators, who were also his dear friends.
Why was this genius and immensely popular filmmaker who worked with Mastroianni, Ennio Morricone, Gian Maria Volonté, Vanessa Redgrave, and Tonino Guerra, removed from the collective memory? Why are there so few people who remember that his film I giorni contati beat Jules et Jim in Mar de Plata (1962). That is the question at the core of this documentary, which we can only hope will help 'rehabilitate' this beautiful man's masterpieces.
Elio Petri. Notes on a filmmaker was produced by Paola Petri, Elio's wife, for Associazione Indagine and Bim.
(Translated from French)
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