Italian cinema draws inspiration from books, whilst Israeli cinema still turns to Gaza

Italian cinema in Venice draws its plots and ideas from books. The other day we saw "Il fuoco che ti porti dentro", directed by Edoardo De Angelis and based on the novel by Antonio Franchini (published by Marsilio). A memoir, or autobiographical novel, one might say, if we read the signals the book sends out: from the reference to ‘my mother’ (in the irresistible opening line: ‘My mother stinks’) to her son’s profession as an editor. Since the start of the Festival, various sections have featured ‘La ragazza con la Leica’ about Gerda Taro: director Alina Marazzi drew inspiration from Helena Janeczek’s novel. ‘La città dei vivi’ is adapted from the book of the same title by Nicola Lagioia. Hirokazu Kore’eda’s ‘Look Back’ is based on the manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto. Nanni Moretti’s ‘Succederà questa notte’ adapts elements from ‘Legàmi’ by the Israeli author Eshkol Nevo.

Scherzetto by Mario Martone, screened out of competition, brings Domenico Starnone’s short story of the same title (Einaudi) to the screen. A 70-year-old illustrator living in Milan travels to Naples to visit his five-year-old grandson. He agrees to babysit for three days whilst the parents are away. “What’s the big deal?” thinks the grandfather, who has lived in solitude for years – he works as an illustrator. The five-year-old is very bright, speaks with great clarity, and has a knack for pranks, which aren’t always innocent. The young actor Lorenzo Perrotta is brilliant; he carries the film. Anyone leaving the cinema saying ‘Servillo is so good’ gives the impression of having watched a different story altogether. The bespectacled five-year-old fills the screen; he’s never affected and doesn’t even seem to have learnt his lines by heart: he relies on a natural mischievousness. And he has a little face that begs to be smacked, yet you just can’t bring yourself to dislike him. It’s making a courtesy screening at the Venice Film Festival and opens in cinemas today.

On 7 September, the arrival at the Lido of a boat bearing the name ‘Global Sumud Flotilla’ – organised by the Venice4Palestine artists’ collective – was met without much fanfare. This afternoon, according to the press release announcing the event for 6.30 pm on 11 September, dozens of kites for Gaza will fly over the beach, in front of the Excelsior and the Palazzo del Cinema – weather permitting, as the change in season following the heatwave has brought rain. Organised by Global Sumud Veneto.

Yesterday we watched "Naza", the documentary written and directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – the Israeli directors of "No Other Land", which chronicled the struggle of the inhabitants of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, determined to defend their village, which was set to become an Israeli army firing range. The documentary was deeply moving and won an Oscar; the military are always in the wrong. Is it possible they still haven’t realised that guns are meant for flowers? With an almost static shot of two people speaking in the dark, against a backdrop of the lights, skyscrapers and traffic of Tel Aviv, “Naza” highlights the high number of civilian casualties resulting from Israeli attacks on Gaza. It shows how the mobile phones of suspected Hamas members are hacked, so that IDF soldiers can listen in on suspicious conversations and often strike targets whilst they are at home. With their families. ‘Naza’ stands for ‘collateral’ victims.

There are no names, not even those of the victims – the soldiers are, of course, protected by anonymity. The hand that sketches the drawings, to better illustrate the dynamics of the attacks which – as they keep saying – ‘catch people in their sleep’, always seems to be the same. Meanwhile, we see flats screened by curtains, creating a ‘window onto the courtyard’ effect. The viewer thinks of violated privacy, not the massacre of 7 October.