La Grande Bellezza

“Io adoro i trenini”, I adore congas (in Italian “little trains”), Jep says. “My trenini are the most beautiful in all of Rome because they take you nowhere…” I’m blown away, puzzled, sad, and hopeful all at once as the final credits of the film transport me under and beyond i ponti romani, the Roman bridges.

It’s a trick….È un trucco. If you desire answers in life, you will find them hidden under the bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. They are all sedimented under the chatter and the noise, silence and feelings, emotions and fear.

“Il fatto che tu non abbia capito non vuol dire che nessuno possa capire.” Just because you didn’t understand, it doesn’t mean that nobody can understand.

“Diamo sempre il meglio con gli sconosciuti”, we always give our best with strangers.

There’s much competition in our society to appear different and at the same time a desperate need to belong to the same trenino, making you no different than anybody else. This is where human weaknesses are at their best: menzogne, vacuità, lies, emptiness. Nobility and clergy included, of course.

An illusion of movement as time passes, uno scatto fotografico alla volta, one photo click at a time, until we regretfully come to realize that nothing ever changes if there is no personal evolution. Precious opportunities are missed, unless we question ourselves, our direction, and our company.

“Roma mi ha deluso”, Rome has disappointed me. Disappointment comes from the choices we make as individuals and as a community when they are generated by a lack of responsibilty and by false ambitions that come from the ego and not from the heart, whether we are in Rome or Nepi or any other city. Roma, la città eterna, the eternal city, center of the world for centuries, is just a symbol of the decandence of our times. “Roma o morte”, Rome or death, was pronounced by Giuseppe Garibaldi whose intent was to tear Rome from the Pope. However, to conquer Rome, it was necessary to wait for the entire European geopolitical landscape to change. And the change eventually came.

“Perché non hai scritto più libri?” “Cercavo la grande bellezza, ma non l’ho trovata…”
“Why haven’t you written anymore books?” “I was looking for the great beauty, but I didn’t find it…

The night obscures, the morning clarifies, and at the age of 65, overwhelmed by regrets, sleeping on a sofa bed, un divano-letto, he finally chooses to see la grande bellezza of everything that surrounds him: youth, nature, love, and Rome. He’s ready to admit the answer to the question that troubled him all his life, “Perché Elisa mi lasciò?”  Why did Elisa leave me? He lost the woman who loved him by choosing the easy way: deceiving himself and embracing fear over courage, indifference over love.

“Dunque, che questo romanzo abbia inizio”, may the novel begin…

This is a deleted scene of the film, una scena tagliata del film, with Giulio Brogi, that I really like.
Buona visione!

“Abbiate rispetto della vostra curiosità. Assecondatela. Molti la frenano.”
“Perché la frenano?”
“Perché….sono pigri, moralisti, indolenti. Sono scettici. Oddio, anche ignoranti.”
Translation:
“Have respect for your curiosity. Indulge in it. Many hold it back.”
”Why do they hold it back?”
“Because….they’re lazy, moralists, indolent. They’re skeptical. Gosh, even ignorant. “

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