Bella Ciao

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>Just as importantly, the film attempts to raise questions other 
>>than police violence during its 100 minutes, such as the possible 
>>effect of the demonstration on G8 decision-making and the likely 
>>implications for the Italian government of the way the whole fracas 
>>was handled. In this it is less successful than when it charts the 
>>actual events, such as the bloody evacuation of the school where 
>>many of the demonstrators were sleeping, and the dance of the 
>>rightwing "black blok" group who seemed determined to cause mayhem 
>>even when nothing very harmful was happening.
>
>Oh, fucking great. A protest film that is really an anti-radical 
>propaganda instrument.
>
>Does the film say that the black bloc is "right wing," or is this 
>just something the reviewer dreamed up?
>
>It seems that the liberals in Europe have decided to be persistent 
>with these lies about the black bloc in Genoa. There WERE black 
>blocs in Genoa organized by REAL ANARCHISTS. One of my friends here 
>in Washington was part of one. And  the black bloc is a tactic 
>practiced by anarchists--it is in now way some kind of right wing 
>formation.
>
>The black bloc isn't doing the work of the police anymore that 
>moderate groups are doing the work of the police when they were 
>infiltrated.
>
>Ridiculous!
>
>Chuck0

According to another webpage about _Bella Ciao_, the documentary 
itself does not "say" that the "black bloc" is "right wing," as it is 
without any voice-over narration:

*****   Bella Ciao / Genoa Social Forum: another world is possible

produced by Marco Giusti, Roberto Torelli, Sal Mineo, Italy / 2001, 113 minutes

In Genoa, the July 20-21 2001 clashes sank the proposals of the 
international movement and changed the political question into a 
question of policing. Bella Ciao reconstructs the evolution of the 
clashes in Genoa using material shot by the many RAI and independent 
media camera people there. The footage is presented without any voice 
over and with only a musical accompaniment. In this way we can 
understand the dynamics of the incidents starting with the Black 
Bloc, who were allowed free reign for two hours. We see the tactical 
errors of the police and the Carabinieri, and the reaction of the 
thousands of demonstrators in the march of the disobedient. For the 
record, the Migrantes demonstration on July 19-20 brought out 50,000 
people and the July 21 demonstration had a turnout of 250,000. Bella 
Ciao has not yet been broadcast.

Marco Giusti (Grosseto, 1953) is a TV author (Blob, Blobcartoon, La 
situazione comica, Scirocco), critic and cinema scholar. Among his 
several writings are those dedicated to 'Carosello', the Italian 
cinema of 1970s and 1980s, Roberto Benigni, Massimo Troisi and Toto. 
He has contributed to "Il Manifesto" and "L'Espresso" for more than 
20 years.

Roberto Torelli has collaborated in the creation and realisation of 
TV programmes - Callas Day, Stracult (Raidue), Paesaggi rubati, 
Tribuni, Per Luchino Visconti, Fuori orario, Schegge (Raitre) - and 
made several documentaries. In years committed to human rights as 
president of the association 'Cinema without borders', he produced 
'Intolerance', the collective film made with the participation of 
Citto Maselli, Claudio Camarca, Cinzia Th. Torrini, Paolo Virzi, 
Gabriele Muccino. He is among the founders of Officina Filmclub, a 
historical organisation of Roman cinema-lovers.

Sal Mineo (alias Carlo Freccero) was director of Rai 2 during the G8 
summit in Genoa and the production of Bella Ciao. In the early 1980s 
he was director of broadcasting of La Cinq (Paris), then in 1991, 
director of Italia 1. In 1993 he became a consultant at Rai 1 and the 
following year, before his current position at Rai, he was again in 
Paris as director of programming of France 2 and France 3.

<http://www.jhubc.it/ccsdd/ciao.cfm>   *****

I haven't had a chance to see the documentary -- I believe it will 
not be released in the USA for some time -- so I can't make any 
judgment about whether it actually says, through editing and other 
visual techniques, what the reviewer appears to suggest: that what 
looks like a "black block" is a group of right-wingers masquerading 
as anarchists.
-- 
Yoshie

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