Un esempio di quello che ha causato il sacco di Palermo

Ecco qui il secondo documentario su cortile cascino del 1993: children of Fate, life and death in a sicilian family.
Non c'è molto da dire.. le immagini e i fatti parlano da se. Il documentario è tutto incentrato sulla vita di Angela, madre di tre figli che dopo anni racconta di come la sua vita sia cambiata rispetto ai tempi di cortile cascino..
è triste pensare che certa gente vive ancora in queste condizioni nel 2010. Il sacco di Palermo lo continuiamo a subire ogni giorno. Se non ci organizziamo e uniamo le nostre forze con l'unico scopo di migliorare la vivibilità di Palermo le cose non cambieranno mai, se aspettiamo di essere imboccati dalle istituzioni politiche (dx,sx,centro) rischiamo di rimanere sempre indietro, al limite della dignità. Di rimanere "figli del destino". Ma vi rendete conto di come vivevano nel 61 a cortile cascino?! MILLENOVECENTOSESSANTUNO!! gli anni dei beatles, gli anni del boom economico, il gruppo63 e le neoavanguardie palermitane.. E oggi la stessa situazione avviene allo zen e in altri posti dimenticati dalla civiltà. Tra 40 anni i nostri nipoti vedranno qualche documentario indipendente sulla realtà palermitana odierna, trascurata e lasciata marcire e disprezzeranno le persone che a quei tempi (cioè questo istante in cui tu sei seduto nella tua poltroncina davanti al pc) potevano fare qualcosa e hanno preferito accontentarsi. Basta poco, ormai abbiamo l'intelligenza e i mezzi per farlo. Non continuiamo ad essere figli del destino.

M.


Vi ricopio per intero la recensione del new york times.

Buon esame di coscienza.

New York Times MOVIE REVIEW
Children of Fate: Life and Death in a Sicilian Family (1992)
Review/Film: Children of Fate; The Tenacious Hold Of Grinding Poverty On an Italian Family

By JANET MASLIN
Published: May 27, 1993
The documentary "Children of Fate" follows in the footsteps of "Cortile Cascino," which was made for NBC-TV in 1961 but never shown. The earlier film, which has been incorporated into this new work, was co-directed by Robert M. Young and Michael Roemer, who assembled a vivid, devastatingly sad portrait of a Sicilian slum.

Now Mr. Young's son, Andrew, and his wife, Susan Todd, have created a follow-up film by revisiting Angela, seen as a long-suffering young mother in the first film and now the grandmother of nine. Thus the sad, unflinching "Children of Fate" can be seen as a family affair in every way.

It's easy to see why Angela became central to this undertaking. A vigorous, articulate woman with a madonna's face, she lived a life of exceptional hardship when the first film was made. She had three young, malnourished children, one of whom died during the course of the earlier account. And she was regularly beaten by Luigi, the husband she hated. Black and white scenes from the early film show Angela serving a humble dinner to her family under this spouse's watchful eye. "My husband Luigi always made sure he ate first," she now recalls.

Angela's life typified conditions in Cortile Cascino at the time the film was made, as Mr. Roemer and the senior Mr. Young clearly indicated. In this crowded, impoverished part of Palermo, where 300 people shared the water from a single faucet, hopes rarely rose beyond mere survival. Angela's mother was seen brushing the beautiful hair of another daughter, Beatrice, in hopes that this child would some day escape by marrying a wealthy man, but the people of Cortile Cascino appeared largely trapped by their circumstances. Now, tragically, "Children of Fate" corroborates that impression. Although Cortile Cascino was razed decades ago and Angela now lives in a clean, modern apartment, the legacy of poverty lives on.

Ms. Todd and Mr. Young observe Angela as she works, visits relatives and talks about the past. They also follow the lives of her six children, all of whom have experienced great unhappiness. One daughter, newly out of prison and mourning a husband who recently died of a heroin overdose, has already begun to vent anger and frustration on her own child. A son who has ties to the Mafia and has spent half his life in jail feels washed up at 31. Another daughter, gravely ill with cancer, is seen weakening as the film goes on. By the time it is over, Angela has had to attend yet another funeral.

Not surprisingly, this family history has bred a terrible fatalism. "If a person is destined to lead an awful life, I don't think there's anything you can do about it," one family member says. Another says, "I can't hope for anything better because I know better can never happen." The only traces of sentimentality come from Luigi, who was left by Angela seven years earlier and still hasn't come to terms with that loss. Seen scavenging listlessly for scrap metal, Luigi talks with some bewilderment about how surprised he is not to have Angela taking care of him anymore.

"Children of Fate," which opened yesterday at the Film Forum, immediately brings to mind Michael Apted's "35 Up," another cumulative, longitudinal study of people whose lives have been largely determined by economic factors. This film doesn't quite match the acuity of Mr. Apted's, in part because it lacks a narrative voice or a sharply inquisitive viewpoint. Angela and her family members talk freely to the camera, but their observations sometimes sound well-honed and self-conscious. That's certainly understandable: Angela has had 30 years to think about the world she allowed to be filmed the first time, and to assess her progress.

Still, this earnest, painstaking documentary would have been more revealing if it were less repetitively bleak, and if its format allowed for more of an overview. The black-and-white excerpts from "Cortile Cascino" seen here have a stark, disturbing power that the talkier present-day scenes often lack.

Of course, Ms. Todd and Mr. Young have shot their new material in a very different world. The social fabric that held together a place like Cortile Cascino, even at its most wretched, created some kind of cohesion and community. Resettled now in featureless public housing, Angela celebrates her freedom, but also seems to live a lonelier life. "I think the city has gotten better, but the people have gotten worse," she says. "Children of Fate" does its best to explain and lament that observation. Children of Fate Directed by Andrew Young and Susan Todd; (in English and Italian with English subtitles); produced by Adam Friedson; released by First Run Features. Film Forum 1, 209 West Houston Street, South Village. Running time: 85 minutes. This film has no rating.