In Memory Of Paolo Borsellino
Never forget.
"After Falcone was murdered, everyone knew it would be Borsellino's turn next." said Judge Vittorio Teresi. "No one can say it was a surprise."
January 19 is the birthday of Judge Paolo Borsellino, a true Italian hero who spent most of his professional life trying to get rid of the Sicilian Mafia. Along with his colleague and close friend, Judge Giovanni Falcone, he worked to prosecute members of the Mafia during the famous Maxi-Trial.
After the murder of Falcone, on May 23, 1992, Borsellino knew he would be next. He was known to say, “Chi ha paura muore ogni giorno; chi non ha paura muore una volta sola.” (He who is afraid dies every day, he who is not afraid dies only once), and on July 19, 1992, Borsellino was killed by a car bomb.
On Amazon you can find an excellent film starring Luca Zingaretti, Paolo Borsellino: I 57 Giorni (The 57 Days), about the 57 days between the deaths of Falcone and Borsellino.
Italian filmmakers do a wonderful job helping us understand this “stranger than fiction” chapter of Italian history.
For those of you who don’t know much about recent Italian history, the ’80s and ’90s were a wildly tumultuous time in Italy.
Beginning in the ’60s and lasting until the late ’80s Italy suffered under the Anni di Piombo, the Years of Lead. a wave of both far-right and far-left incidents of political terrorism all over the country.
But in Sicily, the Maxi Trial made for some particularly bloody and dangerous years. The “Maxiprocesso” was a criminal trial against the Sicilian Mafia that took place in Palermo, lasting from 10 February 1986 to 30 January 1992. 475 were indicted for mafia crimes and 338 were convicted people including 19 bosses, making it the biggest trial in the world’s history.
I remember the first time I watched Marco Bellocchio’s film, Il Traditore (The Traitor), about the Maxi Trial, I thought that Bellocchio must have overdramatized and sensationalized the trials. But Bellocchio told me to take a look at YouTube videos of the actual proceedings, and when I did, I saw just how insanely chaotic they actually were.
Today, 30 years later, Italy is beginning another “Maxi Trial”, this time against the ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate, the Calabrian Mafia, and arguably the world’s richest criminal organization that quietly amassed power as the Sicilian Mafia lost influence.
Read all about the Maxi Trials 2021
Last week we talked about La Mafia Uccide Solo D’Estate (The Mafia Only Kills In The Summer), and if you want to know more and want a place to start, there is no better film. In it, director Pierfrancesco Diliberto pays emotional tribute to Borsellino, Falcone, and all of the judges who lost their lives for this cause.
My good friend Claudia Gusmano who plays Marina Miccichè on the television version of La Mafia Uccide Solo D’Estate, is from Sicily and too young to remember very much about the Maxi Trial. I asked her about what her parents and grandparents had told her about it when she was little.
“More than anything I remember my grandparents telling me about feeling very afraid and how painful it was when they heard about the deaths of Falcone and Borsellino. they were afraid for their future, and for the future of their children.”
Claudia remembers her grandparents telling her about paying the “pizzo”. As she puts it, “someone comes and asks you for an economic favor in exchange for peace”, in other words, paying protection money to the Mafia. She remembers her great grandmother telling her about living near the assassinated anti-Mafia crusader Giuseppe Impastato.
You can find out all about Impastato in Marco Tullio Giordana’s classic film, I Cento Passi (One Hundred Steps).
Good news for fans of Gianni Di Gregorio who still didn’t get a chance to see his latest, Lontano Lontano (Citizens Of The World).
It’s now available through Amazon YouTube and Vudu.
And don’t forget TWO BIG THINGS coming up next week:
Gomorrah Season 3 starts on HBO Max on January 21, making getting HBO Max essential. Make sure you check with your cable provider before paying for it. HBO Max comes free with many of them, but they don’t tell you that. I got mine through Spectrum.
FIND OUT IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ACCESS TO HBO MAX
And on January 22, you can watch Notturno, Gianfranco Rosi’s award winning documentary (and Italy’s submission to the Oscars). Better save your virtual seat at FilmLinc before the tickets are all gone!
What to watch this weekend?
Why not watch Gianfranco Rosi’s earlier documentary, Sacro GRA.
GO HERE TO FIND OUT WHERE TO WATCH SACRO GRA
The winner of the 2013 Venice Film Festival top prize, the Golden Lion, Sacro GRA takes a look at the GRA, the Grande Raccordo Anulare, the giant ring of a highway that circles Rome and the people who live out there. He spent about two years living with them, finding out who they are, and filming them.
It’s quirky, for sure, and the people he meets are real characters. When I met and spoke with Rosi, he told me about being amazed when Venice Film Festival officials called to tell him “Don’t go home” (because he’d won, and would be expected at the award ceremony).
It had been a small problem, just getting his “cast” to the premier. Directors and stars are expected to wear evening wear to the screening, and since Sacro GRA was nominated for the Golden Lion, it should have been screened at night. He got special permission to have the screening in the afternoon so that everyone “could come as they are”, and be themselves!
GO HERE TO FIND OUT WHERE TO WATCH SACRO GRA
Below are some photos I took myself of Rosi and the people in his documentary at the 2013 Venice Film Festival premier.
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Ci vediamo martedì! See you Tuesday!
Un bacione,
Cheri
America’s Cheerleader For Italian Movies