Nanni Moretti
Palombella Rossa

Back in Venice, this time it's 1989. On one side, we have Krzysztof Kieslowski with his "Decalogue" and on the other, there's Nanni Moretti. Kicked out of the official lineup, he finds himself relegated to Critics' Week, where he presents "Palombella Rossa".
During the press conference, this dialogue takes place between a journalist and Nanni Moretti: - Congratulations on the film, for the first time we stayed alert and awake during the screening... usually, we have the best naps - But write it down and then ask yourselves about the function of criticism. Write it down! In your private screenings, you have certain reactions, and then in the reviews the next day "it's necessary to save...". Say what you think, respect this work. Italian cinema won't be saved by speaking well of all Italian films.
One can interpret it however they want, but often, mistakenly, it has been reduced to a film about the "crisis of the left".

There's much more and I find a lot of shared thoughts in it. I confess it represents my favorite Moretti and is one of the fundamental films of my being a "cinephile". Behind the camera, there's one of Nanni Moretti's great passions: water polo.
He incorporates many snippets and movements from his last championship in 1986 in Serie C are recreated. The coaching mannerisms are the same as Silvio Orlando in the film. Specifically, it is inspired by a match in Salerno. At the old pool of Rari Nantes.
He recreates that sharp atmosphere, with great tension and a decidedly fervent audience. Silvio Orlando echoes the calls, attitudes, and grit of his last coach. The game of "Palombella Rossa" is played at the Terme di Acireale, it's Serie C, and it's a decisive match for the championship's outcome. Playing away means confronting a hostile environment, fighting to defend oneself and one’s reasons.

It's not just water polo, though it remains a magnificent pretext. It's an attack on professionalism, on the craft. It's the same attack he directs at journalists in Venice, in the dialogue I started with in the review. Two representatives of this discourse are the bar manager, when he talks about "Doctor Zhivago," and the journalist, brilliantly played by Mariella Valentini. How many times have we seen Nanni Moretti's tirade reprised and paraphrased when he delivers a slap? He's right, words are important, but that's not where one of the keys to the film lies. It's no coincidence that in the trailer there's a passage where Mariella Valentini pulls out a book on the P.C.I. and justifies it with these words: "You know, my professionalism... but I usually cover sports".
There's a critique of this search for a mentor, a reference figure, someone fundamental in one's life, someone one must always rely on. No one escapes: coaches, the Catholic boy, even the referee. Everyone needs one and shows it as if everyone else should share the same impulse, everyone must know them and be inspired, even at the cost of their freedom and imagination, and thus Michele is prevented from doing the palombelle. His behavior during the TV debate is surprising and strange.
Even childhood has a role and significance, bringing about the almost forced responsibility of the child who ends up, as an adult, dramatically regretting those few moments of happiness. Forcing one to play a sport, how many times I think about it. In my childhood and youth, I tried many sports, almost all imposed by my parents, yet I never appreciated and made them my own. Now I find myself regretting it because at 21, I'm starting from scratch with Rugby. Something I discovered and loved on my own.

"Palombella Rossa" is almost a call to humanity.
It's an invitation to accept diversity, not forcing anyone into sudden and almost violent moves just to express themselves (at least that's how I've always interpreted the two guys who always carry sweets). This can also include that dramatic appeal repeated almost obsessively by Michele Apicella... "We are like others, we are different but we are like others".
I like to think that this message also emerges in the techniques used for filming. This is also why it is my favorite Moretti; in these often very wide fields. Some slow-motion snippets (for instance, I've always found visually beautiful the moment when Budavari breaks the crossbar) or certain sequential shots.
A search for diversity also in being cinema aesthetes, not just in the director's thinking.