Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T12:34:12.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Post-secular identity in contemporary Italian cinema: Catholic ‘cement’, the suppression of history and the lost Islamic other

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2017

Clodagh Brook
Clodagh Brook*
Affiliation:
Modern Languages: Italian Studies, School of Languages, Cultures and History of ArtUniversity of Birmingham, UK
*
* Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Alessandro Ferrari claims that Catholicism was the only cement binding the newly unified Italy together, a country without a common language or a widespread culture capable of founding civic engagement. Taking a post-secular perspective on religion, which recognizes that religion is not simply a ‘residue’ soon to be extinguished (as Raymond Williams once stated), this article will explore Italian cinema’s contemporary constructions of this national ‘religious cement’ as a putative foundation for identity in 21st century Italy. The article sets out too to show the cracks in the cement: collective identity can only be created by ignoring religious diversity and removing thorny issues from the history of the Catholic church.

Italian summary

Secondo Alessandro Ferrari, alla fine dell’Ottocento il cattolicesimo era l’unico ‘cemento’ che avrebbe tenuto unita la nazione, essendo questa priva di un linguaggio comune e di una cultura capace di stimolare l’impegno e la partecipazione sociale. Adottando una prospettiva post-secolare secondo cui la religione non è semplicemente ‘un residuo in via di estinzione’, per citare Raymond Williams, questo articolo esplora in che modo il cinema mette in scena il cosiddetto ‘cemento’ religioso, cui accenna Ferrari, e come questo contribuisce all’identità sociale del ventunesimo secolo. La mia tesi è che molti registi contemporanei hanno proposto nei loro film dei valori sociali condivisi che hanno un’impronta decisamente cattolica. Allo stesso tempo, questo articolo mette in evidenza le incrinature nel ‘cemento’, dimostrando come alla sua base venga ignorata la diversità religiosa e vengano rimosse pagine negative della storia della chiesa.

Keywords

cinemaItalyreligionCatholicismIslamidentity
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 22 , Special Issue 2: History and Memory in Italian Cinema , May 2017 , pp. 197 - 211
Copyright
© 2017 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Andò, R. 2016. “Ho creato un ponte tra immaginazione e realtà.” In R. Andò, and A. Pasquini, Le confessioni. 133–139. Milan and Geneva: Skira.Google Scholar
Anon. 2007. ‘Italy Screens Controversial Pedophile Documentary’. Sydney Morning Herald, 1 June, accessed 19 July 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/italy-screens-controversial-pedophile-documentary/2007/06/01/1180205462935.html.Google Scholar
Antonello, P., and Mussgnug, F., eds. Postmodern Impegno: Ethics and Commitment in Contemporary Italian Culture. Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, New York, Vienna: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Brook, C. 2014. “Dissenso, potere e Chiesa cattolica nell’Italia contemporanea: un impegno anti-cattolico?” In Un nuovo cinema politico italiano?, edited by W. H. Hope, S. Serra, and L. d’Arcangeli, 132–143. Leicester: Troubador.Google Scholar
Cornwell, J. 1999. Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII. London, New York, Camberwell, Toronto, New Delhi, Albany, Johannesburg: Penguin.Google Scholar
Cornwell, R. 1983. God’s Banker: An Account of the Life and Death of Roberto Calvi. London: Victor Gollancz.Google Scholar
Dalin, D. G. 2005. The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis. Washington: Regnery Publishing.Google Scholar
Ferrari, A. 2010. “Civil Religion in Italy: A ‘Mission Impossible’?” George Washington International Law Review 41 (4): 839–860.Google Scholar
Grassilli, M. G. 2008. “Migrant Cinema: Transnational and Guerrilla Practices of Film Production and Representation.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34 (8): 1237–1255.Google Scholar
Gurwin, L. 1983. The Calvi Affair: Death of a Banker. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. 2006. “Religion in the Public Sphere.” European Journal of Philosophy 14 (1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horeck, T., and Kendall, T., eds. 2011. New Extremism in Cinema: From France to Europe. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Jacobson, J. R., and Pellegrini, A. 2008. Secularisms. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Kington, T., and McDonald, H. 2010. ‘Pope Faces Fresh Wave of Child Abuse Scandals in Italy’. The Observer, 4 April. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/28/pope-paedophile-priests-italy. Accessed 1 November 2015.Google Scholar
Lübecker, N. 2011. “Lars Von Trier’s Dogville: A Feel-Bad Film.” In New Extremism in Cinema: From France to Europe, edited by T. Horeck, and T. Kendall, 157–168. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lux Vide. 2010. Pius XII: Sotto il cielo di Roma: Pressbook. http://www.luxvide.it/uploads/produzioni/allegati/38.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2015.Google Scholar
Minuz, A. 2014. Quando c’eravamo noi: Nostalgia e crisi della sinistra nel cinema italiano da Berlinguer a Checco Zalone. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.Google Scholar
Nacify, H. 2003. “Phobic Spaces and Liminal Panics: Independent Transnational Film Genre.” In Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality, and Transnational Media, edited by E. Shohat, and R. Stam, 203–226. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
O’Healy, Á. 2010. “Mediterranean Passages: Abjection and Belonging in Contemporary Italian Cinema.” California Italian Studies 1 (1). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2qh5d59c. Accessed 9 November 2016.Google Scholar
Olivieri, M. 2016. ‘“Le confessioni’ come grido dell’anima.” In R. Andò, and A. Pasquini, Le confessioni. 119–129. Milan and Geneva: Skira.Google Scholar
Pasquini, A. 2016. “Il gioco illusionistico del potere.” In R. Andò, and A. Pasquini, Le confessioni. 143–145. Milan and Geneva: Skira.Google Scholar
Posner, G. 2014. God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican. New York, Toronto: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Prosperi, A. 2010. “Prefazione.” In F. Tullio, Chiesa e pedofilia: Non lasciate che i pargoli vadano a loro. 7–10. Rome: L’asino d’oro.Google Scholar
Tornielli, A. 2014. ‘Storka and the Vatican Archives on Pius XII’. La Stampa, 20 January. http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/skorka-pacelli-31384/. Accessed 1 October 2015.Google Scholar
Uva, C. 2011. “I misteri d’Italia nel cinema. Strategie narrative e trame estetiche tra documento e finzione.” In Strane storie: Il cinema e i misteri d’Italia, edited by C. Uva, 9–34. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.Google Scholar
Willan, P. 2007. The Last Supper: The Mafia, the Mason, and the Killing of Roberto Calvi. London: Robinson.Google Scholar
Williams, R. 1973. “Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory.” New Left Review I (82): 3–16.Google Scholar

Filmography

Andò, Roberto, Le confessioni [The Confessions, 2016].Google Scholar
Bellocchio, Marco, Buongiorno, notte [Good Morning, Night, 2003].Google Scholar
Bellocchio, Marco, L’ora di religione: Il sorriso di mia mamma [My Mother’s Smile, 2002].Google Scholar
Berg, Amy, Deliver Us from Evil [2006].Google Scholar
Capuano, Antonio, Pianese Nunzio 14 anni a maggio [Sacred Silence, 1996].Google Scholar
Cavani, Liliana, Francesco [Francis, TV movie, 2014].Google Scholar
Cavani, Liliana, Francesco [St. Francis of Assisi, 1989].Google Scholar
Cavani, Liliana, Francesco D’Assisi [Francis of Assisi, TV movie, 1966].Google Scholar
Comencini, Francesca, Mi piace lavorare (mobbing) [I Love to Work, 2003].Google Scholar
Cupellini, Claudio, Lezioni di cioccolato 2 [Lessons in Chocolate, 2007].Google Scholar
Curtis, Dan, Our Fathers [TV Movie, 2005].Google Scholar
Duguay, Christian, Sotto il cielo di Roma [Pius XII: Under the Roman Sky, 2010].Google Scholar
Faenza, Roberto, Alla luce del sole [Come into the Light, 2005].Google Scholar
Ferrara, Giuseppe, I banchieri di Dio: Il caso Calvi [The God’s Bankers, 2002].Google Scholar
Gibney, Alex, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God [2012].Google Scholar
Giordano, Marco Tullio, I cento passi [One Hundred Steps, 2000].Google Scholar
Guazzoni, Enrico, Il poverello d’Assisi [The Poor Man of Assisi, short, 1911].Google Scholar
Kamkari, Fariborz, Pitza e datteri [Pitza and Dates, 2015].Google Scholar
Luchetti, Daniele, Chiamatemi Francesco: Il papa della gente [Call Me Francesco].Google Scholar
Marabini, Liana, Shades of Truth [2015].Google Scholar
McCarthy, Tom, Spotlight [2015].Google Scholar
Moretti, Nanni, Habemus Papam [We Have a Pope, 2011].Google Scholar
Mullan, Peter, The Magdalene Sisters [2002].Google Scholar
Muscardin, Laura, Billo Il grand Dakhaar [Billo, The Great Dakhaar, 2007].Google Scholar
Özpetek, Ferzan, Cuore sacro [Sacred Heart, 2005].Google Scholar
Özpetek, Ferzan, Harem suare [1999].Google Scholar
Özpetek, Ferzan, Il bagno turco (Hamam) [The Turkish Bath (Hamam), 1997].Google Scholar
Placido, Michele, Un eroe borghese [Ordinary Hero, 1995].Google Scholar
Rohrwacher, Alba, Corpo celeste [Heavenly Body, 2011].Google Scholar
Rossellini, Roberto, Francesco, giullare di Dio [The Flowers of Saint Francis, 1950].Google Scholar
Rossellini, Roberto, Roma città aperta [Rome, Open City, 1945].Google Scholar
Shanley, John Patrick, Doubt [2008].Google Scholar
Sorrentino, Paolo, Il divo: La spettacolare vita di Giulio Andreotti [Il Divo, 2008].Google Scholar
Walsh, Aisling, Song for a Raggy Boy [2003].Google Scholar
Zaccaro, Maurizio, L’articolo 2 [Articolo 2, 1993].Google Scholar