Il Varco: Working with the archive to get a reflective fiction.

Italian directors Frederico Ferron and Michael Mansolini are once again presenting a fiction-documentary. They work with numerous archives as an object to obtain an original, expressive and significant work.

At the gate The fascism of the 1940s with Nazi Germany engulfed us in Italy. We are in 1941, the first Italian troops are being sent to the Soviet front now in Ukraine. The main character describes the epic as a confirmed soldier who already took part in the Italo-Ethiopian war five years ago. His journey through Eastern Europe found him a little-known world, but anchored in one corner of his mind. The main character is actually of Russian descent, and the deployment of the Italian army in the Soviet Union appears to be a tragic discovery of his origin.

Captures the power of the moment using fiction

The story of this Italian soldier of Russian descent is somewhat fictional. Frederico Ferron and Michael Mansolini designed the story with numerous archival images. The idea of ​​filmmakers is to create a fiction from the reality revealed by the archives. In this they pay a great homage to the first characteristic of cinema, to be the mirror of society. Most of the pictures are from the archives of two Italian officials. Entering the war of the Mussolini regime towards the Soviet front was captured by these two. The fictional story and cinematography aesthetics proposed by Frederico Ferron and Michael Mansolini capture the event. The power of the films is increased tenfold by the production of the filmmakers, resulting in a wonderful experience in the reality of the past.

An internal and external view at the same time

Both directors say they “want to create the vision of an Italian man in the midst of a fascist regime.” The painted portrait is of a soldier already marked by war, and during his voyage he questions this conflict and his own place. We see a crisis of progressive consciousness, where the idea of ​​departure haunts the main character. In conclusion, this man includes the viewer made with these archive images. We understand the horror of all these fighting in the Soviet Union. Sometimes, through the anxious eyes of a citizen one can distinguish between pain and frustration. The films brought together by the two directors are sublime in this. The duality between real images and imaginary elements gives a specific and original reflective dimension to the image. Seems to approach an external perspective on conflict, but an internal one. The main character and the audience come together, past and present.

The works of Frederico Ferron and Michael Mansolini succeed in making the past and present speak simultaneously. Both filmmakers are working to monopolize the archive like plastic and give it a new perspective on history. We can only worship this original work that transcends the already majestic archives. At the gate An example of a different way of approaching fascism and the history of World War II. We have to admit, this route is particularly successful.

At the gate By Frederico Ferron and Michael Mansolini at the cinema on January 20th

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