Radio Alice - film screening

June 06, 2012 20:30

Published: May 31, 2012 11:54 by Workingslowly |

Tagged as: culture history italy_77 repression

Places: forest_fields

WORKING SLOWLY / RADIO ALICE
Dir: Guido Chiesa
2004 111mins
Revisiting the Italy of the radical Seventies and its
obsessions with class struggle, creative anarchy and
macrame ponchos, Working Slowly (Radio Alice) provides
a fascinating glimpse of a time of protest.

In a working-class district on the outskirts of
Bologna, Sgualo (Tommaso Ramenghi) and Pelo (Marco
Luisi) hang out at the local cafe, allergic to
gainful employment. They don't mind the occasional
shady job for local hood Marangon (Valerio Binasco),
but they're convinced there's little future
whichever way they turn.

***

Actually the international title is "Radio Alice", but
the movie is originally called "Lavorare con lentezza"
[Work Slowly], after a 1970's song by Italian
folk-singer Enzo Del Re: "Work slowly / And
effortlessly / Work may hurt you / And send you to the
hospital / Where there's no bed left / And you may
even die. / Work slowly / And effortlessly / Health is
priceless."

***

11 March 1977, Bologna. During the violent clashes between police and youths that end up with the intervention of armored vehicles, a Carabiniere kills the student Francesco Lo Russo. 12 March 1977. The brief history of Radio Alice, accused of having directed the battle by radio, ends with the Carabinieri breaking in. It is the first time in the history of the Italian republic that a radio station was closed down by military hands.
Radio Alice, run by the "creative wing" (the so-called Mao-Dadaists") of the radical Autonomia movement, was one of the most singular and original experiments on language and communication that ever took hold in Italy. Lacking a proper newsroom and even less a program schedule, the Bologna broadcaster made spontaneity and linguistic contamination something more than just a flag to wave. It was a project where political, artistic and existential petitions blended in the common denominator of radio space. Today, after more than a quarter of a century, maybe we can start to talk about Alice again, to try to understand if there was something in that voice that could be used again today.
Bolgna-based Wu Ming, a collective of anonymous authors, are credited as co-writers for the Italian film, along with writer/director Guido Chiesa, a film director and rock critic who has directed with Jim Jarmusch, Amos Poe, and Michael Cimino. During the 1990's, the main subject of Chiesa's works was the hertitage and memory of anti-fascist Resistance. Sonic Youth named a song after him ("Guido", from the "Dirty" album, Deluxe edition, cd 2, track #10).

RADIO ALICE Dir: Guido Chiesa 2004 111mins Revisiting the Italy of the radical Seventies and its obsessions with class struggle, creative anarchy and macrame ponchos, Working Slowly (Radio Alice) provides a fascinating glimpse of a time of protest. In a working-class district on the outskirts of Bologna, Sgualo (Tommaso Ramenghi) and Pelo (Marco Luisi) hang out at the local cafe, allergic to gainful employment. They don't mind the occasional shady job for local hood Marangon (Valerio Binasco), but they're convinced there's little future whichever way they turn. *** Actually the international title is "Radio Alice", but the movie is originally called "Lavorare con lentezza" [Work Slowly], after a 1970's song by Italian folk-singer Enzo Del Re: "Work slowly / And effortlessly / Work may hurt you / And send you to the hospital / Where there's no bed left / And you may even die. / Work slowly / And effortlessly / Health is priceless." *** 11 March 1977, Bologna. During the violent clashes between police and youths that end up with the intervention of armored vehicles, a Carabiniere kills the student Francesco Lo Russo. 12 March 1977. The brief history of Radio Alice, accused of having directed the battle by radio, ends with the Carabinieri breaking in. It is the first time in the history of the Italian republic that a radio station was closed down by military hands. Radio Alice, run by the “creative wing” (the so-called Mao-Dadaists”) of the radical Autonomia movement, was one of the most singular and original experiments on language and communication that ever took hold in Italy. Lacking a proper newsroom and even less a program schedule, the Bologna broadcaster made spontaneity and linguistic contamination something more than just a flag to wave. It was a project where political, artistic and existential petitions blended in the common denominator of radio space. Today, after more than a quarter of a century, maybe we can start to talk about Alice again, to try to understand if there was something in that voice that could be used again today. Bolgna-based Wu Ming, a collective of anonymous authors, are credited as co-writers for the Italian film, along with writer/director Guido Chiesa, a film director and rock critic who has directed with Jim Jarmusch, Amos Poe, and Michael Cimino. During the 1990’s, the main subject of Chiesa’s works was the hertitage and memory of anti-fascist Resistance. Sonic Youth named a song after him (”Guido”, from the “Dirty” album, Deluxe edition, cd 2, track #10).

Links:

An interview with Franco Berardi on Radio Alice, a free radio station in Bologna from 1973-1977.

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