An exhilarating lesson in justice and humanity.
PARADISE a new life by DAVIDE DEL DEGAN is an Italy - Slovenia co-production, produced by PILGRIM and A ATALANTA with RAI CINEMA, distributed by Fandango Distribuzione and in cinemas from 8 October
Calogero (Vincenzo Nemolato), witness to murder, he was included in the witness protection program and transferred from Sicily to Sauris, a small town on the border between Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Slovenia. who, for a variety of reasons, he will find himself face to face with the same killer again, with which, after a troubled start to say the least, will establish a paradoxical relationship of friendship.
The film plays a lot on contrasts: opens with a splendid glimpse of Cefalù, we see the sun, the sea, the warm and cheerful colors of Sicily, then a shot and the feathers fluttering in the blue sky become snowflakes falling from a gray and cold sky onto a white blanket of ice. And our witness, in this cold winter gray, tries to sell colorful slushes.
The contrast between the old life and the new is of great impact, hot and cold, family and loneliness, happiness and sadness: the viewer is almost tempted to agree with the protagonist's wife (Selene Caramazza) and say that he shouldn't have testified or trusted “their” – that is the institutions. But then, Fortunately, Calogero reminds us that “they are us”, that we are all part of this society and the commitment to a better world is also and above all our responsibility. And therefore Calogero despite the fear, loneliness and cold – not only climatic – he never backs down from this responsibility, even when he has the opportunity to make the choice again and return to the old and desired life, in the sun, to love, to lightheartedness.
The character of the murderer also has a surprising development, which highlights his more human side and the reasons for his actions; It is important to emphasize, however, that the director's daring choice to humanize the killer so much never leads to anything justificatory. Del Degan also seems to tell us in this case that we are always - despite the stories we carry with us – responsible for our actions but that it is never too late to do the right thing and get started “a new life”.
Although the message that the story wants to convey to us is very serious, the film never loses its lightness thanks to the great dose of hilarity with which the story is seasoned: a lesson in justice, Yup, but always with a smile.
Maria Vittoria Battaglia
Director's notes: Calogero never wanted to be a hero, and in spite of himself he finds himself facing too great a choice and its consequences. Alone and in the wrong place, he feels abandoned by his family and threatened by the hitman he denounced, who on the contrary is running away from a life that he would not have wanted. Paradoxically for the Killer, Calogero is a liberator. His testimony was the opportunity he was waiting for to be able to embrace a new self. So frighteningly close, the two begin to get to know each other and to understand that a new life is possible for them. Calogero as a victim disoriented by the situation will gradually take courage until he becomes master of his own destiny, also playing the role of a trusted friend for the Killer who listens to his confidences and weaknesses. It will throw us off even to the possibilities of a different love. The style is deliberately tragicomic, and draws from the lessons of genre and auteur cinema, where the starting school is the Italian comedy, which uses a sometimes grotesque physicality and humor to highlight the tragic life of the characters. The intent is to focus our gaze on the protagonists, to free them from ideologies and social missions to bring out all the contrasts that distinguish them. The silences of the mountains and the snowpack, the drafts of the wind on the pines, the creaks of the forest and the sounds of the animals that inhabit it will be the atmospheres that will accompany Calogero and the Killer in their new life.