Farewell to Giuliano Montaldo, the eternal cinema boy

Farewell to Giuliano Montaldo , one of the directors who made Italian cinema great starting in the 1960s . He died at his home in Rome where he lived with his beloved wife, Vera Pescarolo, his daughter Elisabetta and his two grandchildren Inti and Jana Carboni.

THE BEGINNINGS – The eternal boy of Cinecittà was born in Genoa on 22 February 1930. Since he was a boy he had the eye of a navigator like Colombo, the voice of a Gino Paoli with baritone tones, the militant passion of the young partisan Calvino, the pleasure of Paolo Villaggio's joke and the poetic lightness of Lele Luzzati, all Ligurians like him, all a bit wise and a bit crazy like him.

After the war for a while, like many provincials with the dream of cinema, the twenty-year-old Giuliano sets out to discover Rome . He is tall, handsome, with magnetic blue eyes and the elegant manner of a conqueror. But that's not why the debuting director Carlo Lizzani calls him to his side in 1951 for " Achtung, Banditi! ". The film will be shot in Liguria, money is scarce (it will be produced in a cooperative with the support of the partisans) and a practical assistant director of the places. On the set they are practically all beginners and Montaldo also stands out as an actor. With Lizzani there is a true friendship and it will last a lifetime : in the following film "Cronaches of poor lovers" of 1954 there is still a small part for him but in the meantime the Genoese boy is practicing as a director by stealing all the secrets of the trade.

BEHIND THE CINEMA – Citto Maselli and Luciano Emmer teach him the technique, Elio Petri for whom he starred in "The Assassin" of 1961 pushes him to make his debut behind the camera in turn. With " Tiro al pigeon " of the same year, Italian cinema discovers a new talent but the chosen subject (the bitter fate of a soldier of the Social Republic in the last days of fascism) is enough to understand that Montaldo does not like easy choices. ” of '65) does not enjoy the favor of left-wing critics and even within the PCI Giuliano will have to defend himself from some too summary trials, as indeed from the accusations of outrage against modesty that rain down on the documentary “Naked to Live” on the Paris of sex which he signs in 1963, together with Petri and GiulioQuesti, with the bizarre acronym Elio Montesti which the three will not reveal for many years.

Stubborn, methodical, encouraged by colleagues who will remain true friends for life (Lizzani and Pontecorvo above all) Montaldo understands that it is through an intelligent use of popular genres that he can make "his" cinema and that the internationalist wind of the 60s can indulge his taste for adventure and travel.

Here then are well-made thrillers such as "At any cost" with Edward G.Robinson and "The Untouchables" with John Cassavetes which win him the trust of the producers. In fact, the following "Gott mit uns" from 1970 has quite another ambition: set in the twilight of Nazi Germany, the film launches a trilogy on the aberrations of power that after the army will target justice (“ Sacco and Vanzetti ”, 1971) and the church (“ Giordano Bruno ”, 1973). thanks to the perfect harmony with Gian Maria Volontè who is their memorable hero, the two films are great popular successes, but they do not distract the director from his militant vocation.Now he wants to recover the partisan story and Franco Solinas' script for "L'Agnese va to die” seems perfect to excite the audience.

At the end of the 70s, the doors of Rai and cinema for TV were opened for Montaldo as well . But after the beautiful experimentation of "Closed circuit" (1978) the new challenge is the blockbuster, the biography of a traveler who is very similar to him. With his wife Vera, Giuliano packs his bags and leaves for China with "Il Milione" on his arm. The eight episodes of his “ Marco Polo ” (1982-1983) are a showpiece for TV and mark the first real opening of communist China to Western troupes after the pioneering journeys of Carlo Lizzani (1958) and Michelangelo Antonioni (1973 ).

In the following years there were still many adventures of the eternal boy of our cinema: the political battles within the Anac (the authors' association), the literary cinema ("Golden glasses", 1987 and "Tempo di kill", 1989), the militant documentary (since "The farewell to Berlinguer" of 1984), the forays as an actor (memorable meeting with Nanni Moretti in "The Caiman", 2006), even the presidency of the David di Donatello in 2017.

(Unioneonline/vl)