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Where's Mario? is a Hegelian fiction.
Created by Corrado Guzzanti and Mattia Torre and broadcast on Sky Atlantic, the series marked the return to TV of Corrado Guzzanti, who for the first time departed from the fertile ground of television shows that had brought him much success.
The idea, conceived back in 2013, was developed together with Mattia Torre (author, among others, of the series Boris) for a duration of only four episodes because, paraphrasing Guzzanti himself, <<the enthusiasm isn't lost>>. It's a fast-paced and captivating fiction, in short, to be watched all at once, almost like a serial movie.
The plot (very briefly) is quite simple, but reveals intricate and top-notch nuances: Mario Bambea, a leftist intellectual in crisis, suffers a severe car accident that puts him in a coma for a few days. Once he recovers, however, the intellectual Bambea alternates with the coarse comedian Bizio Capoccetti, his boisterous nighttime alter ego, an expression of the Roman comedy from local theaters and TV. This opposition unfolds into a surreal-flavored comedy-thriller, directed by Edoardo Gabbriellini, with Guzzanti as the sole protagonist. Perhaps even overwhelming, because among the cast there are high-level actors who portray superbly that undergrowth of irrational and dreamlike characters born from Guzzanti's mind, such as Nicola Rignanese and Emanuela Fanelli (Faglia and Cinzia), Evelina Meghnaci (Dragomira, a Romanian caregiver expert in assisting intellectuals) Rosanna Gentili (Milly, Bambea's adulterous and arrogant wife), Valerio Aprea (Muscia), and the cameo by Nello Mascia.
Where's Mario is satire par excellence: Guzzanti perfectly immerses himself in the tawdry Italy spawned by Renzi-ism (and grandchild of Berlusconi). From the young yuppies in power to the humor (sic) of various modern cabarets, to the self-referentiality of certain intellectual(oid) leftist circles. On one side, Mario Bambea, born from the salons and friends of Guzzanti Paolo, representing those cultured figures who, once the Berlusconi era ended, either devoted themselves to leader Renzi or were overwhelmed by identity crises and scrapping; on the other, Bizio Capocetti, the flag bearer of vulgar and stereotypical comedy, based on shopping malls, couple life, and jokes (read: insults) to the audience, with his being a bit Lorenzo and a bit Funari. And then, the surroundings: the slimy and petty makeshift impresario, the brash and very bitchy assistant (the neighborhood version of Arianna from Boris), the fallen comedian who made a living imitating - Bagaglino style - Bambea himself, the homeopath doctor who disparages everything and everyone.
Lastly, there is also a jab at the audience itself, generally speaking, because Italy is a country that thinks in silos, for which if you are cultured "you can't watch Masterchef," while if you're crude you can't read a political essay. An Italy divided into classes and castes, each closed within itself and inaccessible from the outside. Then, a bit banally, here comes Hegel: if at first Bambea and Capocetti battle and hate each other, over time they begin to prod and influence each other. The intellectual rediscovers the desire to write, and the comedian begins to question the social usefulness of laughter.
But beware, because the ending of Where's Mario? isn't strictly Hegelian. Thesis and antithesis do not merge into a synthesis, but learn to know each other, becoming aware that there is another world outside their own, that there are shades between black and white. Thesis and antithesis that also learn to respect each other, because they know there is a diverse humanity that needs both sophisticated rumination and liberating laughter.
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