Narciso. Dietro i cannoni, davanti ai muli

Narciso. Behind the Cannons, in Front of the Mules
by Marcello Baldi, Dario Baldi

Italy, 2008
35mm
Colour
Length: 93’
Language: Italian

Narciso Dal Cason is an 84-year-old man, who has grown up and lived in a town in the Valsugana area of the Trentino region, where he has always worked as a shepherd and where everyone calls him Ciso. He began as a herdsman, while still a youth, then became the manager of the mountain refuge. He is a good man: wise, gruff, and contentuous, but sensitive and expert, like few others, on the mountains and their secrets. He has lived alone since, widowed, he raised his only son, Tommaso who abandoned him once he reached adulthood, attracted by the mirages and exotic pull of India. Out of the blue, after twenty years, Tommaso reappears. He returns from India with his young companion, Aruna, and their son, Samir. Ciso greets them with open arms, like the father of the prodigal son in the parable, and right away grows fond of his grandson and, even if he initially regards her with suspicion, of the boy’ s mother, Aruna. Aruna is Muslim and this is the source of various conflicts and reactions in this small town of antique, deeply-rooted Christian traditions. All of this is slowly overcome given Tommaso’s exemplary behavior, Aruna’s charm, and little Samir’ s irresistable personality, as well as the goodness and wisdom of Ciso who sees the last years of his life finally lightened by the affection of his family. The old man cannot wait to see Tommaso and Aruna married, as soon as they have the necessary documents, even if only in a civil ceremony given their religious differences; in part to avoid the danger that mother and son could be expelled from Italy because they are foreigners without legal permission to stay in the country. But just when their dream is about to be realized, thanks to the help of the mayor, the local priest, and a valiant and humane marshall of the state police, Tommaso is diagnosed with an incurable disease. Ciso is unable to withstand this umpteenth, heavy blow that strikes down not only the life of his son, but also the strong fiber of this man of the mountains. Yet it is he, on the verge of death, who will marry the Indian woman, thus allowing her to stay with her son in the community that has, by now, accepted and welcomed them in the name of that tolerance that makes possible the convergence of differing and very distant faiths and cultures.

Marcello Baldi
Marcello Baldi was born in Telve Valsugana (Trento) in 1923. After university studies in Rome, in which he pursued the “History and Literature of Popular Traditions”, he began his career as a documentary film maker, screenwriter, and film editor. From 1940 to 1954 he worked as an assistant director to Alessandro Blasetti, Lionello De Felice, Pietro Germi, Giorgio Simonelli, and Romolo Marcellini. In 1955 he was asked by CAI to produce and direct the film Italia K2 dedicated to the conquest of K2 by the Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio. This marked the beginning of a long career as producer and director during which he made more than fifty feature-length and short films and directed, among others, such Italian actors as Enrico Garinei, Gina Lollobrigida and Gastone Moschin. Marcello Baldi has produced and directed various works for the theater including Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno, by Giulio Cesare Croce and L’avventura di un povero cristiano by Ignazio Silone. In 2008, with his son Dario, he made his last film, Narciso.

Dario Baldi
Dario Baldi was born in Rome in 1976. After working in all aspects of on-set filmmaking, from childhood onward, and later as an editor, he dedicated himself to directing and made numerous videoclips and advertisements, followed by documentaries and feature films. In 1998, with a small MiniDV camera, he made his first documentary, Managers, mixing with Roman bums to tell the story of their life on the streets. In 2005 he made his first feature, Pablo, based on the story of Pablo Neruda. He has participated in the Montreal Festival, the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles and other international festivals where has obtained recognition and awards. After a period in England, where he worked as a director for Universal Music, BBC, Channel 4 and Turner, in 2007 he founded Torcida Pictures with a group of friends. He collaborated on the film Zero (with Dario Fo, Lella Costa and Moni Ovadia) and with his friend and collaborator Davide Marengo (for whom, years before, he edited his first film, Craj) made the film Dallaltrapartedellaluna, for which he was cameraman, editor, and director. This film will be the special event in the Horizons section of the 64th Venice Film Festival. In 2008 he co-directed Narciso with his father Marcello Baldi.

Director: Marcello Baldi, Dario Baldi
Subject: Marcello Baldi
Screenplay: Marcello Baldi
Photography: Ugo Menegatti
Editing: Dario Baldi
Music: Giuliano Sangiorgi
Main cast: Roberto Herlitzka, Amina Syed, Alessandro Di Natale, Catherine Feller, Gennaro Piccirillo, Ayaz Mansha
Producer: Paolo Ghezzi
Production Company: Nervous Pixels

Nervous Pixels
Paolo Ghezzi
T. +39 393 9482780
nervouspixels@libero.it