In Venice “Iddu”, an unpublished portrait of the man Matteo Messina Denaro

Another story about the mafia, far from stereotypes and surprisingly intimate, in “Iddu – The Last Godfather” by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza from Palermo, in the official competition for the Golden Lion. Third work by the two directors after the acclaimed “Salvo” and “Sicilian Ghost Story”, it tells a paradoxical story set in Sicily in 2004 – reconstructed between Selinunte, Salemi and Sciacca – and freely inspired by reading some notes from boss Matteo Messina DenaroThe film was conceived before his arrest and is based on an exchange of letters that reveals a portrait of the man that differs from the one given to the community.

«Matteo Messina Denaro’s study began a few years ago and it was quite complex – said director Grassadonia – because this figure has long been underestimated. We came across a correspondence between Matteo Messina Denaro and a former mayor of Castelvetrano, his birthplace, which was developed by the Secret Services between 2004 and 2006 with the aim of finding his traces and capturing him». An unusual correspondence, in which the two directors have planted the seed for a possible story for the big screen.

«It’s about ten letters. in which, beyond the few lines in which business and interests were discussed, the boss paused in himself, in existential reflections, and little by little the psychological portrait of this strange and childish narcissist emerged, as well as the personality of the mayor, the political arm of the father in the area. The portrait of Messina Denaro was far removed from some stereotypes linked to the figure of the mafia, and this mayor seemed to embody the quintessence of a certain type of mask of Italian comedy».

One of the peculiarities of Messina Denaro is its special relationship with women: «We are used to the house and the church of the mafiosi – added director Piazza – ; he has never been married and his relationship with women in the film indirectly emerges as a reason for the conflict between him and his father (especially with regard to Lucia Russo, played by Barbora Bobulova, a female figure from Matteo’s past), imbued with a pathological patriarchy with sickly fruits». A film, therefore, in which the intimate and personal side of the boss predominates compared to other elements of the story: «The human aspect emerges in the notes, in the form of the writing – added his interpreter Elio Germano – because he changed the register of the writing depending on the people he spoke to. With this display of culture he wanted to show that he was superior to others; a pathology of all Italians and of the characters in this story, who feel better than others and believe that they have more rights than others».

The boss’s arrest then gave the actor even more knowledge: «With his arrest, disturbing and interesting elements for my work emerged from the recordings. I discovered a person capable of gentleness, sensitivity and capable of communicating a certain ethic; and this is disturbing because any of us could become such a person: we just have to replace the values ​​we believe in with others». Catello Palumbo, the recipient of the boss’s confidences, played by Toni Servillo, is a caricature: «The character gives the film a grotesque quality – the actor clarified -. He is an acrobat besieged by despair, who uses the resources of a provincial school headmaster culture, baroque, of a small local administrator to accept this risk, to rectify his condition as a man released from prison, to make a deal with the secret service apparatus for the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro».

The cast also includes Antonia Truppo, Tommaso Ragno, the actress from Reggio Emilia Daniela Marra, the Palermo Giuseppe Tantillo and Fausto Russo Alesi, the Jatino Filippo Luna and the Messina Maurizio Marchetti. Music by the singer-songwriter from Solarino (Siracusa) Colapesce. Italian-French coproduction made by Indigo Film with Rai Cinema and Les Films du Losange, “Iddu – The Last Godfather” will be in theaters from October 10th with 01 Distribution. Today the film will receive two collateral awards in Venice: the Carlo Lizzani for best Italian film and the Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award.