Every month Emidio (Gianfelice Imparato), an elderly Neapolitan communist, writes to the “commander” Fidel Castro from his dining room in Naples, and strangely enough he replies directly from Havana. Even when, in 1991, the Soviet Union is about to disappear, also putting communism on the Caribbean island at risk. Emidio- Gianfelice Imparato (“Qui I laugh”, “The bastards of Pizzofalcone”), revolutionary we see, military suit and boots, cigar in order, cross the alleys and seafront of his city, Naples, chasing unlikely attacks on imperialism. He has a son named Ernesto (like Che), who despite his father’s faith pursues a dream and a standard of living with stars and stripes.
“Dear Fidel”
This is the plot of “Querido Fidel”, a film of ideals and ideological reflections, a bittersweet comedy but above all a gem destined to become a cult. Also, like Sorrentino’s “It was the hand of God”, Fidel Castro and Maradona have a number in common. On November 25th, the day when the commander died five years ago and on the same day, a year ago, Maradona, one of his greatest fans, left us. They are both characters in Querido Fidel, a film with which Neapolitan newcomer Vivian Calò has already won two major awards at the Bari Film Festival (Best Actor and Best Director). “It’s important to let people know that I didn’t make the film myself. The editing is by Niccolò Andenna and is an important part, says Calò from her home in Tenerife, where she moved with her family seven years ago to work with a Spanish production company. Born in Naples, she lived there up to the University, then she moved to Rome, for love. There he meets his lifelong partner, Niccolò Andenna himself, and together they work on his first feature film, in 2008. “I lived for many years in Naples, and I come from a family of artists,” he says. Explaining the genesis of his film. “My mother is an actress, she had friends with whom we had a lot of debates in our house, it was a bit of a bohemian situation. For many years the French photographer Nicolas Pascarel frequented our house. In 1994 he had just returned from Cuba, he had an extraordinary service on the island in the especial period. There I started to have a visual idea of what we were talking about, something had grafted into me. When I was attending a Masters in film writing in 2008, I heard on the radio the news that Fidel, now alone and ill, had abdicated in favor of his brother Raul. I wondered how a person who lived his whole life with such a big and cumbersome myth felt. There the construction of this fictional story began, with a precise historical setting, in the nineties and with a leap to the generation of the daughter, of the protagonist, who is mine, that of today’s forties ».
The music is also beautiful, the main theme of which is signed by Valerio Virzo. “The most iconic pieces of Cuban music give back a special flavor, and Naples lent itself very much as a setting,” continues Calò. “I’ve never been to Cuba, maybe one day I’ll go there. Mine is a film about a dream, and Naples is very Latin American, it lent itself “.
