Alfonso Brescia
Zappatore

Hello everyone, today we turn our eyes to the South.

Continuing our, by now growing, review of "minor" Italian cinema, it seems appropriate to focus on the most well-known, and probably most successful, work of the Neapolitan melodrama, which has strong roots in the tradition of the Vesuvian capital and was brought to the big screen in this excellent 1980 film directed by Adolfo Brescia.

Firstly, let's clarify the concept of melodrama: these are dramatic stories, where the core of the plot often involves generational and family conflicts, disputes between individuals and tradition, or between children and parents, often with interludes of troubled and disturbing love stories, almost diabolical in the technical sense, meaning they cause a division between the lover and their world, their previous affections, and their very life, divided into "before" and "after".

The "melò" aspect essentially pertains to the Italian touch that distinguishes these performances, the exaggerated caricature of characters, the frequent use of clichés that, on one hand, wins the loyalty of the audience and pushes many to see themselves in the characters, while on the other hand, gives a clear and unmistakable kitsch patina to the stories told.

As readers might guess, this is a more localized and modest version of the great themes underpinning every drama and tragedy, from classical Greece to the English Bard, here seasoned with an Italian touch, I'd say almost peppered and spiced by the significance of family mechanisms in our country, and in the South in particular.

To this, we add the powerful role that music plays in these films, often derived from the script (hence the common use of the term "sceneggiata") of individual pieces, typically drawn from the Neapolitan tradition. This also explains how often the protagonists of these melodramas are professional singers, lent to the cinema.

As already noted, "Zappatore" represents the peak of the genre, encapsulating the best and worst of Neapolitan melodrama and providing, for novices or skeptics, an excellent trial ground to understand the characteristics of this cinema and culture, so loved in the Naples area yet neglected, if not even despised, in the rest of the country, and especially in the Northern Regions.

The film tells us about a farmer - the very Zappatore of Libero Bovio's song - who sacrifices himself to educate his son, even going so far as to contract debts with a usurer, emancipating him from his Southern and proletarian origins. The son, however, besides successfully completing his studies, distances himself from the family, to the point of rejecting his past, his origins, and ultimately even himself and his roots. The change of heart and the new meeting with his father will be prompted by the mother's illness and a forced return home.

As is evident, we find the very essence of the tragedy well described in this plot: the initial harmony, even if characterized by poverty (thesis) - the emancipation towards study, culture, wealth in foreign lands (antithesis) - the necessary confrontation with one's past, the change of mind, and the overcoming of divisions (synthesis). All of this is seasoned with the ineffable and powerful melodies of a Merola never so protagonist and chanting, in representing the betrayed soul of Naples - or the entire South - which was, in the face of the challenge of modernity and, if you will, the betrayal of its own son and values.

The message of the film appears as powerful as it is ambiguous, so that it cannot reduce "Zappatore" to a simple epitome of certain Italian trash: one can grasp, on the one hand, the will to emancipate from some traditions felt as negative, or at least limiting, which often clashes with a certain underlying conservatism, with an attachment to one's roots that, on the one hand, reassures the individual, making him feel like part of a whole (the family, the community), on the other hand, clips his wings, his creativity and the very possibility to transform and improve the real.

I honestly find that what is represented well describes the dramas of many young people, from the South but not only, who often feel deeply within themselves this conflict between wanting to leave (perhaps abroad) and the need to stay close to home, or nearby: if we think about it, it's a bit like the myth of the "bamboccioni", which returned to forceful relevance last autumn, but it is akin to what experts would define as a true "invariant" of the mos italicus.

Well, leaving the sophisms aside and focusing on the technical aspect of the film, I can't help but remark on a certain approximation of the work, sewn on the overflowing protagonism of a Merola, as well as the great stage presence of the talented Neapolitan singer, who is rightfully missed today. Around dear Mario, the presence of luxury character actors like Aldo Giuffrè and Regina Bianchi stand out, along with a Mara Venier not yet anticipating the successes that would await her in the following decade. Average is Alfonso Brescia's direction, obviously aimed at following the story's evolution and the performance of the protagonists.

In summary, a 4/5 film in my ideal ranking, a generous 2/5 even on the objective scale I impose on myself for the readers' sake.

Until next time!

 Especially yours

 Il_Paolo