1° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
Retrospettiva - Il cinema italiano che oggi ha vent'anni. Opere prime 1958-1967
Banditi a Orgosolo
by Vittorio De Seta
While Michele Jossu, with his brother Peppeddu, is taking care of his flock, three outlaws arrived, followed by the police. The men ask the shepherd for a shelter and he is not brave enough to refuse. When the police arrive, he doesn’t turn them in, but the officers find the rests of one of the pigs raided by the outlaws.
He knows he can be accused of connivance, so Michele flees with Peppeddu and the only thing he owns: his flock. During the gunfight, one of the police officers dies. Michele’s situation gets even worse when they issue a warrant for his arrest. He tries to reach an area where he hopes not to be judged. Extremely thirsty, his sheep die one by one and with them the chance to pay back the loan he made to buy them. Michele is devastated and ends up attacking another shepherd, he knocks him out and steals his flock. While he is leaving, the cries of revenge of his first victim echo in the night.
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala
Biography
film director
Vittorio De Seta
Vittorio De Seta (Palermo, 1923) debuted as a director with Pasqua in Sicilia, which he co-directed with Vito Pandolfi, and between 1954 and 1955 he shot six documentaries in Sicily. Of these, Isola di fuoco won first prize for best documentary at the Festival of Cannes in 1955 and Contadini del mare won at Mannheim in 1956. He directed his first feature film in 1961, Banditi a Orgosolo. He switched to television in the 1970s, the start of a collaboration with RAI that resulted in the series Diario di un maestro (1973). He has recently made the documentary Dedicato ad Antonino Uccello (2002) and has finished shooting the feature film Lettere dal Sahara.
FILMOGRAFIA
Lu tempu di li pisci spata (cm, doc., 1954), Isole di fuoco (cm, doc., 1954), Surfarara (cm, doc., 1955), Parabola d'oro (cm, doc., 1955), Pasqua in Sicilia (cm, doc., 1956), Contadini del mare (cm, doc., 1956), Pescherecci (cm, doc., 1958), Pastori a Orgosolo (cm, doc., 1958), Un giorno in Barbagia (cm, doc., 1958), I dimenticati (cm, doc., 1959), Banditi a Orgosolo (1960), Un uomo a metà (1966), L'invitata (1969), Diario di un maestro (TV, 1973), Un anno a Pietralata (TV, 1974), In Calabria (1993), Dedicato ad Antonino Uccello (2002), Lettere dal Sahara (2005).
Declaration
film director
I had the idea of making a film in Sardinia in 1958, when I went to make two short movies in Orgosolo. I came back there in late 1959. I didn’t have anything specific in mind. I only wanted to make something that was really related to reality, as I always did in my documentaries. I’ve lived in Orgosolo for a few months. I went to Sopramonte with the shepherds. I also took part in a transhumance, in November, from the mountains to the sea and I talked for a long time with the shepherds.
After a while I thought that I could set up my story in Orgosolo in two ways. The first was writing an “inner” story, a story about the private relationships among the people of the village: a story of revenge, for example. The second way was a tale describing their relationships with the State. (...)
I decided to follow the second path and set up a story which could reflect especially the relationships or the non-relationships of Orgosolo with the Italian Government. I got the idea from what we can consider the “leit-motiv” of the court-related news of the village. Generally, when a serious crime is committed, like a murder, a robbery or a kidnapping, the police stop the shepherds or the farmers that they find near the scene. They are suspected to be the actual authors of the crime or, in any case, they must have seen something and they should give information. Of course, they always deny everything. The consequences are terrible, especially for the shepherds. Even if they are released, it can happen after a very long time because of the length of the procedures, so maybe it can happen after one year and when a shepherd is finally free he is subjected to a huge financial loss: he could have lost his flock or find it decimated, and also, during his detention, he didn’t get anything out of it. For this reason, the people of the village often live as fugitives.
When I tried to show the idea to a few producers, of course they laughed at me. The initiative didn’t offer any guarantee, it was impossible to define a working plan and a financial plan as well. I couldn’t blame them and so, after a few attempts, I gave up.
But after all I was, maybe presumptuously, convinced that it could be done. So I put together some money that I had earned with documentaries and I got to work. (...)
I am an operator as well. And, maybe it is weird, I had the best results this way. Because of the low budget, when we were tired or uncertain, we could stop, discuss the script, change it etc. We all worked on the screenplay, two local assistants and the protagonists as well. This method allowed maximum flexibility, the chance to adjust ourselves to the occasions that occurred step by step. (...)
The protagonist is a shepherd. I met him by chance, as soon as I arrived at Orgosolo, because one day, while I was checking places, they asked me if I could go to pick up an ill shepherd, who was coming back from Sopramonte. He arrived with a high temperature after he had walked for many miles. In my opinion he is an amazing natural actor.
It wasn’t easy to solve the problem of the girl. Women, here, don’t go to the cinema and they think of it as something immoral. Therefore it was impossible to find a young lady. We had to change the story and we chose a little girl.
When I used to watch all the footage, back in Rome, it was always a trauma which used to almost make me cry. That is where the editing and soundtrack work began. I basically started all over again, with a lot of work and a lot of handmade patience: this time not on reality, but on the material that I had. It was hard work, I kept putting together and breaking up, without thinking about the planning, the screenplay or the working plan. It would have been extremely expensive, almost impossible, from a production point of view, if I hadn’t learnt how to do everything by myself: operator, sound engineer, editor etc.
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala
Cast
& Credits
Aiuto regia: Vera Gherarducci.
Soggetto e sceneggiatura: Vera Gherarducci, Vittorio De Seta.
Director of photography: Vittorio De Seta.
Art director: naturale, ambientata da Elio Balletti.
Costume designer: Marilù Carteny.
Editor: Vittorio De Seta.
Assistente al montaggio: Fernando Papa.
Music: Valentino Bucchi.
Direttori del suono: Fausto Ancillari, Nino Renda.
Cast and characters: Michele Cossu (Jossu, il pastore), Peppeddu Cuccu (Peppeddu Jossu, il ragazzo), Vittorina Pisano (Mintonia, la ragazza), e altri pastori sardi.
Production company: Vittorio De Seta.
Italian distribution: Titanus.