CYNICISM IN TRAGEDIES –
There is a limit even to cynicism. And the mere idea, less than a month after a tragedy in which 29 people lost their lives, of announcing a TV drama about the Rigopiano disaster, far surpasses him..
The facts are simple. A good and unscrupulous producer of films and television dramas, Peter Valsecchi, thought it best to communicate Urbi et orbi the decision to do a mini-TV series about the hotel buried by the avalanche, where 29 people lost their lives, in circumstances that are still to be clarified, as they say in jargon. And others were miraculously saved.The producer is doing his job, for goodness sake. And let's also add this fever of announcements for marketing and publicity purposes, which has exploded in Italy for years now and has infected everyone and everything, from politics to institutions, through television and the visual arts. Let's also take it for granted, as Valsecchi states almost apologetically for the rush to make a TV mini-series playing on the still-simmering pain of men and women who live not a fiction but real life, that in this way the cynical producer wanted to put his hat in the game and thus beat the competition to the punch. So much so that he even announced the number of episodes and their length. Good. The fact remains that the acceptable limit of cynicism has been greatly exceeded, showing almost a contempt for life, for feelings, for history, for the still very fresh memory of the victims, their relatives and the survivors..
ALSO READ: Rigopiano massacre: warnings ignored by a state that always intervenes haphazardly.
TV SERIES ABOUT THE RIGOPIANO TRAGEDY –
All this cannot be ignored and trampled on. And There is no law of the market and of advertising that can justify such a waste of authentic feelings, on the flesh, of peopleIt's no coincidence that, with an attitude somewhere between indignation and shock, some relatives of the victims, or even survivors themselves, have commented on Valsecchi's announcement in a composed yet authentic manner, which should put any reflection to rest. They have said: It seems premature to us, It would be best to let time pass, It's a choice in bad taste. Well, grief can even give us flashes of clarity. These comments seem almost banal, but they speak the truth as clearly as possible, reminding us that an excellent barrier to cynicism is sometimes simply the more banal, but no less significant, good taste, or the synonymous common sense.
Moreover, it shouldn't escape neither to Valsecchi nor to whoever decides to ride this grim wave towards ratings success, which in this case would be stained with blood and pain, that a complex judicial investigation is underway into the avalanche that swallowed up the hotel in Rigopiano, with three strands of inquiryHere, too, a grain of common sense: how can we avoid thinking that the production of a drama so sensitive to the sentiment surrounding a recent tragedy might somehow influence investigators? We complain so much, and rightly so, about trials being played out on TV and not in courtrooms. Now we want to get to the judicial investigations, with any related measures, which are conducted first on TV and then through the scrupulous work of investigators?
TO KNOW MORE: Flood and earthquake plans, so municipalities ignore them. Until the next disaster.
FILM ABOUT THE RIGOPIANO TRAGEDY –
Finally, Valsecchi proclaims himself as a producer, in this case, of investigative cinema, of militant cinema, like Francesco Rosi's Hands on the city, to be clear. Here we can only smile, and respond that, considering our starting point, we decidedly prefer Valsecchi, who produces the hilarious and well-acted films of comedian Checco Zalone, to his self-appointment as a producer endowed with a counterfeit civic passion.
Giampiero Parete, who spent 58 desperate hours waiting to hear that his wife and children had been saved, said: "Can this film be stopped?" In my opinion, it can't be stopped, but it must be stopped. The American poet and journalist Walt Whitman said: "I hate cynicism more than the devil, unless they are the same thing." And the devil, one way or another, must be stopped.
(Cover image source: National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps CNSAS)
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