«Le premier homme» di Gianni Amelio

«Le premier homme» of Gianni Amelio
The last Gianni Amelio’s picture, Le premier home, based on the unfinished novel by Albert Camus, is more an autobiographical narrative than a mere cinematic adaptation. Facing Camus’ text, it is as if Amelio had recalled its previous attitude towards the South (not only a historic and geographical notion, but also a way of «rubbing history against the grain»). If the novel goes back and forth from present to past, the film is necessarily set in a «double past»: the 1957 of the main character’s return home, and the flashbacks about his childhood. The evocation of the past is achieved through a few elements, in an almost ascetic mood. In doing so, Amelio puts a greater distance from the historical background, and at the same time he puts himself on a more philosophical level. The South, for both Camus and Amelio, is a point of observation where considering the limits of History and Progress. But in Le premier home Amelio’s attitude is more reflexive, even sad: as if the South couldn’t be a place of hope anymore.