Mario Martone
Nostalgia

Nostalgia is often labeled as tricky, and not without reason (it should be noted that the term "nostalgia" comes from the ancient Greek "nostos" meaning return, and "algia" meaning pain). The memories of events, people met, and places visited do not provide us with the useful and necessary elements to judge wisely and do not allow us to act in the best way possible. This reflection arose spontaneously for me after watching the film "Nostalgia" directed by Mario Martone and inspired by the novel of the same name by Ermanno Rea. It is no coincidence that the story presents us with a portrait of a man too naïve to believe that time has passed in vain, without altering the places and people he frequented in the green years of his youth.

The protagonist is a certain Felice (an apt name) who, after more than forty years, returns to Naples in the district of Rione Sanità (not exactly a quiet area of the Neapolitan city) due to the worsening health of his mother. This event allows him to reconnect with a world he left at a very young age due to serious and sudden reasons to work abroad (first Lebanon, then South Africa, finally Egypt). Reacquiring both the Italian and Neapolitan language is an exhilarating process for him, to the point of believing that his Naples has remained untouched with its vital Mediterranean atmosphere. And despite the death of his mother, Felice is so taken by this newfound love for the place that he decides to buy an apartment with a sea view near Rione Sanità.

All set? Not at all, because his stubbornness to return to the places of his childhood and youth seems driven by the desire not only to relive the sensations felt back then but also to find certain people he frequented in those days and particularly a friend named Oreste who was already a bit of a troublemaker (so much so that he involved him in a robbery that went wrong). And after so much time, he certainly cannot have improved, so much so that various acquaintances of Felice (including the parish priest of the neighborhood) strongly advise him against finding him, as he has now become a small-medium caliber Camorra boss with the nickname "o malommo." But our hero is possessed by a Franciscan candor, believing in his heart that one can communicate even with those who have lost their way. In doing so, he makes a highly risky choice, going into the lion's den and thus jeopardizing his future.

It must be said that the film lives through the masterful interpretation of Pierfrancesco Favino in the role of Felice. His verbal expression with an Arabic cadence, alternating words learned in Middle Eastern countries with an Italian mixed with Neapolitan dialect, shows us a gradual process of returning to native roots. It clearly and deeply represents the protagonist's effort to return to the starting point of his odyssey, a sort of modern-day Ulysses.

Yet the poor Felice (it is quite fitting to say so) reasons and acts like an incurable romantic. Perhaps he is dazzled by the Mediterranean sun to the point of thinking that Naples is still the same, despite the passing decades, and that the people he knew in his youth are unchanged. But he forgets alas, that "panta rei" and thus time changes everything and everyone. How could it be otherwise, and there is no exception for the peer hardened by criminal life who continues his racketeering as if nothing had happened. Showing respect for an ex-friend, then sheltered abroad, who dares to meet him in his den? Come on, do you still believe in fairy tales? Indeed, the ending could not be anything but tragic and still expected.

But undoubtedly the idealistic character that dictates the actions of Felice's character cannot help but be worthy of respect. After all, it reminded me of certain passages of the text of one of the many memorable Beatles songs (precisely "In my life") where it sings (translated into Italian) among other things as follows:

"There are places I'll remember all my life, though some have changed, some forever not for the better... I won't lose affection for people and things that went before."

But sometimes, one might say, time is not a gentleman, and it is better not to find those we knew in the past. The disappointment could be very bitter.