Paolo Sorrentino
È stata la mano di Dio

Being 16 and unaware of the happy life you lead. Then, suddenly, one cursed day, you receive the news of a tragic event that shakes your existence and forces you to get back into the game, to mature quickly. This could be, in summary, the moral of "È stata la mano di Dio," the latest film by Paolo Sorrentino presented at the recent Venice Film Festival. It's a very intense film in which the author narrates what he experienced directly as a teenager.

Under a fictional name (Fabietto Schisa), here is the condition he found himself in during the mid-80s in the Neapolitan city. The son of a well-off bourgeois family (a bank executive father and a lively housewife mother) at the center of vibrant relationships with relatives, acquaintances, and neighbors (a colorful humanity), Fabietto is an introverted young supporter of Maradona's Napoli. His life flows pleasantly in a city full of cultural stimuli (these were the years of Troisi emerging in cinema and Pino Daniele established in music), but fate, cynical and unfair, has a cruel trick in store. By choosing to stay in the city to attend a match of his favorite team, he doesn't join his parents in their mountain villa. There, as he later learns, a carbon monoxide leak kills his father and mother in their sleep, leaving Fabietto, his brother, and his sister orphaned. The anguish is great, and having been spared from the tragedy by chance could be considered a stroke of luck (as if it were the hand of God invoked by Maradona to justify his irregular goal against the English national team at the 1986 World Cup).

But, after processing the grief, Fabietto realizes that his life must change accordingly; he can no longer feel motivated after the death of his parents. To those who argue that in Naples you cannot fail to find valid reasons to live, he replies, "I don't like reality anymore, reality is poor." Therefore, determined to pursue his artistic inclinations, he boards the train that will take him from Naples to Rome (in an ending echoing Fellini's "I vitelloni" and the choice of the protagonist Monaldo to leave Rimini for Rome, the homeland of cinema).

In this latest work, Sorrentino confirms himself as an author endowed with a strong visionary charge. Right from the opening scenes, you're swept up in a flow of sequences full of captivating characters. Just to name one, there's a kind of Saint Gennaro who, aboard a limousine, stops at the corner of a street to invite Patrizia, Fabietto's aunt, to follow him to solve a problem she's suffering from. It's a film opening that somewhat recalls the beginning of Fellini's "Eight and a Half," of which Sorrentino is somewhat a worthy heir in terms of the ability to enchant and seduce the viewer.

And then there's a colorful array of captivating characters. The already mentioned Patrizia, Fabietto's aunt (masterfully played by Luisa Ranieri), is unforgettable for her strong solar and sensual presence, a woman unfortunately affected by severe psychological imbalances due to an unfulfilled desire for motherhood. But also Fabietto's father (the usual superlative Toni Servillo) and mother (Teresa Saponangelo) are just as significant as the plot unfolds, along with many other supporting characters. Not to forget the protagonist Fabietto (played by a young and excellent Filippo Scotti) grappling with the anxieties and difficulties of growing up and maturing typical of someone so young facing life's harsh trials.

All supported by a great directorial performance by Sorrentino, who films a decisive turning point in his existence in a heartfelt and touching way (just note how he frames the parents as they doze off and die unconsciously from carbon monoxide fumes on that fateful evening..).

"I did what I could, I don't think I did that badly." This is Maradona's phrase, cited in the film's opening credits, which I think can also be referred to what Sorrentino has managed to do so far in his artistic career. Indeed, with "È stata la mano di Dio" he has surpassed himself and signed his best film. Congratulations Paolo!